Unfamiliar Faces

When you walk down the street that is crowded with people making their daily commutes, everyone’s face seems to be the same.

You don’t pay much mind to anyone in particular as you walk past everyone. You just keep walking to get to where you’re going. Just like everyone else.

You walk the same way every day. Everyone walks with you. You’re part of the crowd that walks with their heads down and mouths shut, instead of eyes sharp and a friendly arm extended. We can’t be bothered with mindless conversation anymore. We would just lie about how we were regardless.

You smell gasoline from a passing car, maybe a restaurant or a coffee shop. You hear people talking on their phone, people laughing. You hear silence from some. Most just walk by without a word; without a glance.

Because you see they aren’t paying any particular attention to you either.

But why should they?

They have their own life to live, right?

Each person you pass, they have decades of life under their belt. You think of your history, how much you have endured.

Every person you pass has an entire story. Some longer than yours; like the elderly man that was resting on the bench that faced the street you passed. But still, you didn’t pay mind to him.

Maybe you noticed his gloss handled cane. It looked brand new, it looked hand made. But after that brief moment you scanned your eyes past him, you never thought twice about it again.

So why, out of all these people with all these stories, these lives they have lived and goals they have yet to reach, did you pick me to discover?

You picked me to tell you all about my life. My struggles and my achievements. My love and my hate.

You chose me to take a second look at. You chose to learn the rhythm of my laugh, the beat of my heart, the pattern of my thoughts.

You chose to pay attention to me. Out of all the people walking down the street.

Was I the restaurant that put the thought of steak in your head?

Was I the whiff of coffee that resonated in your nose until you passed by?

Was I the intriguing and oddly unique cane that supports an old man's damaged knee?

I was none of these. But I was all of these.

I was the face in the crowd you looked at twice.

And I am the hand you hold almost every night.

I am the laugh you love and mock me for.

I am the heart and soul that keeps you warm.

In a world where just everyone walks by,

You stopped the moment I caught your eye.

In a world where destination is more important than the journey,

There’s no one I’d rather spend my life with, walking the opposite way.