A Cold Encounter, by Daniel Chapman

The Veiled Nun, by Giuseppe Croff (Italy), 1860.

A Cold Encounter

The cold marble curtain cuts cross her face.
She looks away, wrapped in stone, no embrace
in her eyes, which avert their gaze elsewhere, 
past me, though I shift to catch her stare.
I think some harm or loss troubles her mind, 
but as I move with eyes prepped to be kind,
the windows to her soul shutter out mine.
She still looks out, but I can find no line
in, to see the person hiding inside.
“Why should two, such as we, try and hide?
True, we just met, but we share so much.
We have loved. We have lost. We both long to touch
our lives to another so that we know
their heart, and they know the shape of our nose.  
But you hide, and soon I will walk away
from an immortal face designed to play
shamelessly reflecting a unique gaze
through unique eyes. But this world is a maze
and though we should walk together in pairs, 
we meet lost souls and make our face a wall.”

Daniel Chapman

Daniel Chapman is a lover of words currently voyaging the seas of cybersecurity - sailing by day and writing by night. He has been known to embark on other crazy endeavours like writing a poem every day for a year. You can follow his progress at www.danielschapman.com.