A long time ago I left my house
On a journey to visit a friend
I took a familiar route, cutting through a stretch of woods
I encounter an old woman present with her canine
Chose to stay and converse somehow knowing that I should
She slipped seamlessly through several tongues
English, French, Spanish and Russian to name a few
I knew but two
We settled on French quite soon
Dialectic emerged from broken friendly phrases
Compared and shared our stories, the young with the old
In the back of my mind my destination urged me to leave
But the power of this woman’s soul kept me in her hold
We laughed about the chance of this spontaneous encounter
A rendezvous of unknown persons at the jungle’s edge
She told me I would later say that “this is a strange lady”
I walked away and dwelled upon every word she said