ANONYMOUS GIRL

to look
into her eyes     I fall, deep, mysterious
like the sky, endless, without fault, guarded
I fall, go; I am swept away, taken by
her forever- Mona Lisa smile, frozen in place
I want to reach out, bring her back to life-make her whole
then
the bus makes a stop, 3rd and Hudson
she steps down onto the pavement, into the
night, the bus lurches forward
in a plume of exhaust from behind; anonymous girl
who was there, now gone;  like a painting on a
museum wall, out of reach for someone like me

By Michael Perry