Single or Return?

The train is still for a moment.
The flat glass shows a reflected face
An old face, with wrinkles and creases.
The train moves,
Rain streaks move,
And the wrinkles vanish.
The face is young - my face.
I have no business looking that young.
With all I've seen
With all I know.
The bright burning pain of others,
Their sickly, green-grey loathing,
The sharp acid taste of hatred.
I have seen it all,
Felt it all....
It is the curse I wear inside
It is who I am
It is a path I must walk alone
I have no choice.

I sigh and look away....

Across the aisle are two more faces -
She loved her bridegroom
But hates the husband he's become.
He doesn't know this,
Wouldn't understand if he did
For there is no love in him, only duty and honour.
And she hates him for it.
Yet she loves him for it.

My gaze travels on....

A puffed-up kid, lost in a musical daze.
I hear the tinny beat of his music,
But his mind is dancing to a memory,
As his body remembers the girl he was with.
A moment of empty ecstasy,
Just another conquest to him.

The show continues....

Here is quiet and peace.
The old woman nods, half-asleep.
My gaze lingers here -
A patchwork of scars,
A map of the past.
Always the past....
Times of great joy,
Times of great loss,
But always the past.
No eyes to see the here and now.
In a way, I envy her.

Move along, move along....

A shock as eyes meet mine
An unexpected mirror.
Both of us look away
Then back again.
Her mind is open, welcoming,
A flutter of a hope of a promise of a dream....
We share a shy smile.
I see a hint of sadness in her eyes,
Feel a weight as great as....
Suddenly, I feel old once more,
Ten thousand souls stacked up on mine
Emotions piled high....
I am crushed beneath them.
No escape for me in the mirrors of her eyes,
No escape for me anywhere.
I turn away
I sigh
I stare at my glassy face once more.

A soft voice....

"Is this seat taken?"
It is the open mind - she is standing before me.
I shake my head, "No."
She sits, and smiles at me once more.
I smile in return.
Silence descends, and we willingly embrace it.
She stares
I stare....
We feel a strange pull
Like two mirrors,
Reflecting each other to infinity.
Reflecting....
Like for like.
Our hands reach out
Fingertips touch.
"I know," she says.
"I know," I reply.