A Polite Distance

There's a bench 

at the side of the road

right across the street

from my house

I saw a couple sitting 

there today

innocently chatting

under the shade of

the cherry trees

taking respite

from the searing heat

of this sunny June day.

Middle aged, or older

I'm not sure what

middle age is these days

the conversation seemed polite

something about an

art trail and there was an

equally polite distance between them

but then I saw her lean in

and touch him on the arm

it was nothing 

and yet

it was something

barely perceptible

and mainly un-noticed  

passers by

concerned only with

their mobile phone screens

and minutaie of their lives

but I noticed

the beginning of something

on the bench

in my road

under the shade 

of the cherry trees

and I smiled

April Child

18 June 2015

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i'm not sure what middle age is these days either...i am 65 and still feel like i am 18 in so many ways.

but i feel like that bench...watching those pass by with their mobile phones...that little electronic world...

as they walk by all the beauty, unnoticed.

[April Child]

Indeed, technology is a blessing and a curse :)

[Iris]

Mobile phones. Don't even get me started. You can't talk to a person except to find him/her immersed yet again in some piece of wondrous technology so they can't even be bothered to face me when I'm talking Note my sarcasm. But technology is so interesting isn't it? You can still make time for the rest of the world, though. Sorry, ranting.
Great piece (again) :) I like the reality of the situation.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Technically we never know when someone is middle age because we all die at different ages... anyways isn't it great to witness love when it is blooming.