03.09.2000

The Metrpolitan Transportation Authority (of New York) and Barnes & Bobles books have donated ad space and funds to promote poetry on our buses and trains. Typically, an excerpt or a full poem will be posted in cars for the riders to enjoy. There is one poem about a man and a woman on a train bound for upstate NY I think. They are strangers to each other, but the man decides to approach the woman with conversation. As she is reading, he says to her, "The trees look fine, don't they?" To which she comments, "Really, show me a tree that looks nice." He points one out to her and she says to him, "It's gone by already, the next time you see another, let me know," and then goes back to reading her book.

So last night I was on the train headed home, when I noticed a young woman sitting about six feet away. I noticed first the freckles that made her so beautiful, then the tiny earrings like pearls, and the necklace of the same half-pearls, twelve in number. Her lipstick was soft and simple, almost the color of her skin. Her hair was black and natural with slight spikes of hair stems. I don't know if she noticed me looking at her when I was standing. But I couldn't help but to take in her simple, but unique beautity before she or I got off.

I finally got a seat, almost across from her. I couldn't hep looking at her still, but her eyes avoided me. They drooped slightly and she looked very tired. But there was a tiny smile at one point, and I hoped that it was because she knew I was looking at her. I thought to myself that it was perhaps worth a shot to write her a note. The last time that I did this was in high school, so she was definitely something special to prompt a note. So I looked in my bag as I started to composed the note in my mind. I found a spare page from a repair work order, which I hoped had my name and company phone number on it. (It didn't, but the idea was to let her know what my impression of her was.) There were ramdom jottings already on the back of the paper, but I started anyway. I got these sentences down:

Senorita:
Perdoneme mi interupcion. Esta simple nota es para comendar su estilo de ser. La ultima vez que
hice esto con una mujer estrana f...

[Miss:
Pardon my interruption. This simple note is to commend your style. The last time that I did this
with a strange woman was...]

And there her stop came and my note was not finished. I watched her get off the train and I followed her in the crowd as long as I could. The train would start up again any second and I could find her again before the she reached the stairs. But the train didn't move, and instead went into stand-by as the conductor sorted out his or her instructions. By time we were moving, she was gone.

Maybe it was just something that I did to try, to perhaps have a thought to daydream about and smile over. What would I do if I saw her again? Should I keep the note with me and finish it when and if I see her again? What would she say or do if I reach out the note, and did say to her, 'Miss, you dropped this."?

I hope that I dream of it in my sleep; this would be just great. To wake up and remember that I dreamt of an encounter with her. In our dreams are minds are free.