Afternoon poem

 In Passing

 

I had never met her before.

The clerk at the auto repair.

Plain looking girl,

brown hair, glasses.

She could have been me.

She was so very nice.

She took me home

and promised to come get me

when my car was fixed.

We chatted the whole way to my house

and, after a few hours, back again.

She was Kelly, married fifteen years,

had two middle grade kids,

resided in Utah before moving to Colorado.

I knew about her mother-in-law’s strokes,

her new puppy, part retriever, part lab,

her wish to visit Australia.

I knew more about her

than some people I’ve known for years.

Kind of a remarkable thing

and I may never see her again.