How many faces can we remember in a lifetime?

mrielrodriguez Poems

Because I look at you And my memory fails me I forgot other people's silhouettes Just to give space inside my brain For the stubble on your chin The lines around your intense eyes Where your cheek bones incline and decline The dews on your lips I like kissing And how everything adds up To the face I always miss seeing I look at old friends And in idle moments when my head is free I stare at them and it's like seeing them for the first time I realize I have not been looking hard enough Get too caught up with the mundane The casual talks and dates Inductive, I go beyond the entirety of the face And start with the features then zoom out I am taken aback at how foreign they seem to me suddenly How many lifetimes do I need to remember everyone else's faces? I just spent a night memorizing yours