She knew the whole time
What I took for recognition
Was
But was not
She did not recognize my smile
Not my familiar embrace
Nor temperance
She understood only their passing
In the shade of a cool, fall evening
Someone I mistook for friend
Returned my smile and left
Nothing less than her presence spoke
But it must have been a whisper
One that broke upon the dash
Through the window and beyond
Lost and gone
Scaterring forever in the distance of memory