but the way you looked at me from across the bar and all the things we didn't say

My breath paused

can anyone else in the room feel this?

that everything has stopped?

The crackle of the candle in the corner is the only discernible sound

all the doubt and unrest that every night brought since we parted

of if any of it was real, has dissipated

Your face changed ever so slightly

I know now that it was

a brief glimpse of unequivocal certainty, the kind that I’d forgotten

It was all you needed to say that we couldn’t

An aching tale of two people who fell in love too early

or too late

some things are passing, and some stay

this would carry on

perhaps just always out of reach

and maybe we’d meet again someday

but today is not our time, and maybe never again

just this one moment in this corner of the bar, is ours

Always.

It was real.

I promise.

A bell on the door of the bar rang and

our friends started laughing again

the wine splashed into our glasses

the party behind us roared back into conversation

our eyes broke their hold

a moment that froze, ended

none of it we said

all of it was heard

with a glance fleeting but infinite

all at once