A Passing Connection

The subway car rattles, a body in space,

our eyes meet briefly, a moment I chase.

I spoke words unguarded, a truth without veil,

your laugh like a bell, a sweet, fleeting trail.

You nodded and smiled, said I was quite brave,

but I replay the moment, a thought I can't save.

The fluorescent lights buzz, our lives intertwine,

while shadows of strangers, our fates so malign.

Was it really a truth, or just something to say,

a fragment of feeling that got lost in the fray?

I wander those thoughts, like ghosts in my mind—

the stories of strangers are hard to unwind.