I saw you today, from a balcony above you
Like gazing through an open window to your future
About fifteen years older, yet still familiar
You smiled down at your three children.

A little boy clung to your sleeve
Gently, you ruffled his short brown hair
The oldest boy stood proud between his siblings
Lifting her head from where it lay nestled
against her mother’s sleeve, a little girl with the bluest of eyes
Her accusing eyes stared upward, penetrating me
With a flick of her long, wavy brown hair
She turned back to her mother

I glanced at the woman, the one who caught your heart
Her image blurred, tears streaked my cheeks
And my heart nearly broke as you leaned over to her
And placed the lips that I longed for, onto hers
The window fades, wiping clear the stinging image
Reality sets back in