alien

i saw her again today
among the milling crowd, the sea of faces
we picked each other out
as if it could not be any other way
as always, she smiled
it was one of those smiles that
i privately thought belonged to her world
i have been there and
its as different as it can get with
green skies and warm stars
children laughed and played in
the yellow grass fields
i still hear their joyful giggles
in my world
the complaining wails of
the littlest one hugging on
to her leg as she talked to me
so little-- not even knee high he was
and i felt something new, so new
envy-- a piercing stab shooting thru me

my face frozen
i could not return her smile
she knew, i knew
as if we merged
and despite the difference
there was perfect symmetry
in past and present
in thought and feeling
in words and deeds---

outside my house, just up
the road that turns is
the end of the world