– Reunion –
He sees her
at the edge
of the crowded soiree
and knows her instantly.
It is a blow.
The first time
in thirteen years
Fate has brought them
together
years for her
he’d heard
were far from kind.
He thinks
how dramatic
change can be from
Life’s random cruelties
and how no one
can prepare.
A nervous voyeur
he peeks into her eyes
smudged windows
at the brink
of unimaginable pain.
It frightens him
makes him wish
he hadn’t heard the rumors
the images evoked
and now the proof.
Her face
the same yet injured
from the inside of her trauma
haunted eyes far too mature
for her years
aspect stamped with the hurt
she tries to hide.
And he wonders
when she finds his broken smile
how it was ever possible
that once
she swarmed his secret dreams.
She turns away.
It occurs to him
she read it in his heart
and knows
the Muse has passed.
***
*First published here.
Thanks for reading!
Friday Fiction appears on random Fridays as a place to share my writing in the form of short stories, flash fiction, poetry and vignettes.
So good, Jennifer. I love how much is told through the brief observation, how we get a whole hint of a larger tragic story. A great character study of both the man and the woman.
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I love that you love it, Diana. If I’ve gotten that much across, then I count this piece as successful. Thank you. 🙂
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Beautiful and moving Jennifer.
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Thank you, Andrea. So happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Jennifer, this is wonderfully written and incredibly powerful. It is as if the woman has to suffer twice for her fate, knowing she will never be looked at the same way again. That everything is changed! Others have said it before and I wholeheartedly concur – haunting and sad!
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Thank you for your feedback and kind words, Annika. It’s funny how the smallest of observations spur me to write. Are you like that? 🙂
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Absolutely, Jennifer … it’s like magic on such occasions and wonderful when you can embrace the observation and carry it to new levels!
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Precisely. We don’t get our ideas out of thin air!
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This POEM is haunting. Sad. A broken woman. Eyes like smudged windows. Wow. Wonderfully done, Jennifer.
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Thanks so much, Pam. Your feedback is a gift! 💐
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Haunting but beautiful, Jennifer. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the weekend!
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Haunted is exactly what I experienced (see my response to Jacqui’s comment). You have a lovely weekend too, Jill. xo
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Lovely but heartbreaking. Happy Friday to you!
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Pain can be a catalyst for writing – at least it is for me. Enjoy your weekend, Carrie.
Is your son’s grad this weekend?
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It is. Plus, I have company, so it will be a busy one. But fun too!
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Wonderful!
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Oh that is sad. Or is it just maturity and wisdom that this male objects to?
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Of course, as many poems are, it’s open to interpretation. But in this case, I was spurred to write when I saw someone I knew who had been changed by trauma in her life. Her eyes haunted me.
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