He and his wife treated us to baseball,
Good seats on the first base line.
We cheered home runs with them,
Shared popcorn, joked, talked family.
Gaps opened in the years,

Until I saw them just now in the drug store,
As his cool spotted hand gripped mine
With a “heyyyy …”

And we wavered in that pause,
His hand letting go slowly,
His eyes roaming helplessly
Through the friendly wilderness of me.

(First published in slightly different form as part of the Hidden Peak Press Artist Spotlight, July, 2022 – thanks to Poetry Editor Kyle Newman.)