When moments of connection are fleeting and disappear as quickly as they arise, we realize we have experienced something wondrous and indescribable.

Time has frozen in that moment, no matter how brief.  We are granted with a breathtaking synchronicity, even if it is only making eye contact with someone for a split second. It can change us and them. A small smile, a slight acknowledgement can work wonders and save lives. We continue on our way, wishing for more than that brief eye contact. We have hope that another encounter like this will surface, and that we will finally capture it forever:

In that one moment of eye contact
Across the bustling street,
The silence trembles and pulsates
In the air.

People shift
Into formless blobs of color
That expand and contract
Like an abstract painting I created.

I extend my parched brush outwards
To his faded, far away figure.
He vibrates faster than the speed of light;
He is light.

I try to hold him still
So I can refine his image even more,
To color in the lines and contours
Of his face, his arms, his legs.

But he moves too quickly,
Even as he is suspended in midair.
His essence is oil in the sunlight,
Fluid, iridescent, shimmering liquid.

Next thing I know, a car passes
In between us
And he disappears
From my straining, searching vision
Like the sun eclipsed by the moon.

I tremble and sigh,
Missing the warmth I could not capture.
Looking down at the scorching asphalt at my feet,
I find a small puddle of water and oil.
I smile, and continue on my way.

~

Author: Molly Johnson

Image:  Flickr/ Jimnista

Editor: Deb Jarrett