Going Down

By Jonathan Bracker

Going down the escalator

of the subway, I glanced across

and saw on the escalator's partner

rising up

someone who looked a bit like you but with hair

not so soft and clean and warm as yours

brushing against mine

on those rare occasions

when inadvertently our foreheads

neared, making me wish it to stay.

We were not physical lovers

and never could have been.

But we were close. Moved three states away,

married happily or not, you are now

only a person I may hope to meet

momentarily, and not really then: merely

in my mind, because of what I chance to see.

But I am not unhappy about this

or think that I am not. Because of your hair.

Because of your beautiful hair.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright© 2016 by Jonathan Bracker, “Going Down." Poem reprinted by permission of Jonathan Bracker.