Observation: My Youth Walked Through the Front Door

My youth walked through the front door pigtails and wide- eyed striped dress stumbling over her feet and I found myself watching her fighting the urge to jump up and wave her over so I sit patiently closed lip and quietly while the couple in front of me pull at each other’s skin and I look away while his hands roam over the girl of glasses and short skirt my youth finds me and takes a seat next to me and sink down knowing if she looked at me she would see she would see everything the cynicism the wrinkles the scars and she hope and shine and for a moment my youth found me one more time in a coffee shop both of us holding poetry books and keeping our words close