A Trip That Keeps On Giving
While walking in this new place,
I ended up at the marketplace.
All the people everywhere.
Many new smells in the air.
Different spices from many lands.
People talking with their hands.
As they bargained for the lowest price.
Everything here looked so nice.
Then, I saw her walking by.
She smiled when she caught my eye.
I had never seen her before.
But, I knew I wanted to see her more.
She had a scarf wrapped around her head.
Like most women, as she moved ahead.
Before long, she was out of sight.
I looked for her till it was night.
At the hotel, something was missing.
The thought of her and I kissing.
But, she was nowhere to be found.
No matter how much I looked around.
The next day she never showed.
The marketplace was growing old.
Day after that, I was headed home.
A long air flight back all alone.
The following week, I was walking downtown.
Suddenly, I turned around.
A woman was entering a store.
She looked the same as she did before.
Rapidly, I followed her in.
I was thinking how to begin.
I said: “I saw you in the marketplace.”
“Then, you were gone without a trace.”
She said: “Yes, I remember you.”
“ You remind me of someone I knew.”
“That was another lifetime now.”
“You remembered me somehow?”
She had a wrinkle appear on her brow.
“Something lit up in me when I saw you.”
“I knew I wanted to see more of you.”
“This is very strange, for sure.”
“I came home, and we meet at this store?”
“You’re from here also?”, I said.
“Yes, I have lived here since I was wed.”
“You are married then?”
”No, my husband died a few years ago.”
“You reminded me of him, very much so.”
My heart started a trip to forever.
I knew I had to be very cleaver.
But, I was sure she was my destiny.
She was everything I wanted her to be.
One thing led to another.
She introduced me to her brother.
We hit it off very good.
Everything was falling into place.
I was sure this was our fate.
If you travel abroad at any time.
Always keep this story in mind.
For, the same could happen to you.
Falling in love with the one met for you.
——————————-R. W. Johnson—–(2017)