Through the store window
Of time
I watch you
Buying my first books

“I actually knew the author”
Enthusiastic.
“That's nice”
Waiting for her shift to end.
“I loved him”
“That'll be twelve, fourteen”
“He loved me.”

Author distributed
Or self published
Or non-existent
I can count
On at least
One reader

And I walk away
From that store window
And go on another walk.
Your use of the past tense
Had begun
To bother me