Across the coffee shop loud and bright and crude

Across the coffee shop, loud and bright and crude,

you sat there, unaware, and utterly glued

to your phone, or a thought, I couldn't tell which.

Then you tapped your pen, just a tiny, soft glitch.

Against your front tooth, a specific, dull sound,

and my entire brain just hit the ground.

Like a tripped circuit breaker, or a sudden, hard reset.

And all I could think was, 'I haven't met

such brilliance, such casual grace.'

This tap-tap-tap, in this ordinary place.

My own jaw felt stupid, my eyes, a wide stare.

Over a pen tap, just a whisper of air.

I ordered another latte, for god's sake, why?

Just to sit longer, under that impossible sky

of your small, unconscious habit. And I knew,

right then, I was sunk. Absolutely, stupidly, through.