I looked up from my laksa
and saw you awkwardly
fiddling around with your wallet...
You sat at your table
just across from ours
and you were alone...
You were neatly dressed
in a checked short sleeved
cotton shirt
and your short silver-white hair
had a brylcream sheen...
I watched you out of the corner
of my eye as you ordered your
lunch in a quietly quavering voice...
You sipped your cyder from
a wine glass
as you gazed around the room
at the families and couples
as they scooped up their
noodles, stir fries, rice
and laksas...
When your dish of rice
and beef satay arrived
you politely thanked the
pretty dark haired young waitress
and then you started to eat with your fork...
There was a dreamy far away glaze
in your grey eyes
and a kind of cry
in the lines of your
worn, sun weathered face...
In response to your far away look
I turned my thoughts inward and saw
you sitting with a soft faced girl
who giggled and laughed
and shared a secret with you...
Then I glanced up from my dreaming
and saw that you were gone...
