Their Face Changed

I said something stupid

at the coffee shop.

To someone I didn't know.

Something about how everyone

looks tired.

Something casual.

Something I thought was funny.

It wasn't.

Their face changed.

I watched it happen.

The moment the words landed

and suddenly they weren't

a stranger anymore.

They were a person

I'd just hurt.

I didn't mean to.

I was just making conversation.

I was just being someone

trying to connect.

But meaning doesn't matter

when you're the one

hearing it wrong.

When you're already broken.

When you're already tired

and someone reminds you

of it.

They left soon after.

I sat with my coffee

getting cold.

I see them sometimes.

At the same coffee shop.

Same time.

They don't look at me.

I don't look at them.

But I think about it.

The moment their face changed.

The moment I was casual

and they were breaking.

I didn't know them.

I still don't.

But I hurt them anyway.

That's what I think about.

How easy it is

to hurt someone

you don't even know.

How casual cruelty

is just casual observation

to the wrong person

at the wrong time.

I should apologize.

I should say something.

I should do something

to fix what I said.

But instead I just

avoid the coffee shop

at that time.

I just avoid the moment

where I might have to see

that face change

again.

I just carry it.

This thing I said.

This thing that mattered

more than I thought.

This thing that made someone

look away.