Like Any Other Stranger (revised)

Days pass like strangers on the street
Never looking behind as you walk with speed
Possibly missing that someone you should meet
Or the peripheral friend from the past
Whose specialness got packed away
With memories faded and frayed.

Looking left then right
It appears safe to cross
To the other side
For you hear destination's call to
Leave the moment without living in it
Persistent in searching for something without ever knowing,
Without ever seeing...

Watch out! A voice shouts as you leap
Out of harms way.
Heart beating like a hummingbird's wings
Soft melody with an underlying energy.
Swinging your head back and forth
To find the origin of the voice.
How unusual,
The city streets are empty.
For just this moment you exist:
The past lives in the present.

Then off you go like any other stranger
And the city bustles like any other day.

B-O-O-K-S

To Thalia,
This poem came to me as we walked home from the library.

We love to read books every day
B-O-O-K-S

With their colorful pictures
Imagining
Different places
Different thoughts
Many feelings
Many faces
All from the words that sing

Oh, how we love to read books every day
B-O-O-K-S

Open the cover
And we soon see
All the diversity
That makes our world
Exciting to be
A part of its magnificence

Yes, we love to read books every day
B-O-O-K-S

Now, close the book and your eyes
Take a moment to visualize
A place that is yet to exist
An idea no one has shared
A picture only you can create
Dream
Imagine
Believe
Of all the possibilities

We love to read books every day
B-O-O-K-S