All alone, yet surrounded by so many

Faces watching faces without letting on that they peek

Thoughts that usually aren’t thought

bubble up through the mind.

As fleeting images flash by like a strobe light

Pictures into other people’s lives flit past

almost too quick for thought

A face is illuminated by recognition and

is kept animated by the familiar

The illumination dies and the face once again

resorts to its stoic politeness

The noise is undistinguishable from the chatter

I step down

Am briefly bathed in the pool of light allowed to follow me.

The doors close

And I am alone again.