Soul Stare

That moment when their eyes met...some may call it a soul stare. Sometimes words are not enough. Sometimes they aren't even required.

Their eyes met. No words were exchanged but it's not what they said; it's what they didn't have to say. It seems words are too often less a means of communication than objects which we mask our true feelings.

Two souls lost in a crowd, each searching for the other, neither acknowledging their bond. They mingle about aimlessly, milling amongst the throng. He searches for her. She scans to see him. They pass in their orbits yet never intercept. Their paths cross yet neither speaks. Their apparent indifference is a complete fabrication driven by desperation.

- - - - - - - -

As we pass in close proximity to the other, we both feel it, some inexplicable force of attraction drawing us together. Neither of us turn our heads to look but we both cut our eyes as we pass straining to see if the other is looking.

We pass by indifferent to the other, painfully aware of how others might portray it if they were to recognize the raw affection we feel; afraid to look into each others eyes lest or expressions give us away. both afraid the others reaction if they should suspect the amorous interest, preferring to sulk under the cloak of denial, hidden in the shadows of anonymity.

But our souls know. They kiss. In one fleeting glance they connect. clutching, grasping, clinging desperately to the fleeting moment. Some seminal seed that passed between them in the moment, making each the unexpressed compliment of the other, conjoined yet incomplete. Barely perceptible, they pass from him to her. He propositions, she accepting, receiving, forever mated after. Something has conceived within her, growing until the time to arrive.

It was an absurd experience should one think about, one that never transpired except in our imagination ...or was it?

It was an experience neither dared yet both yearned for. Logic and reason denies what their hearts affirm. Our minds tell us it won't work; we can't be together but our souls know differently. On some subliminal level we both know we are destined to be satisfied together or miserable apart. Lovers, intimates, partners -two separates merged into one; at the moment bound only by their mutual hope.

Me: I saw her about, too many times for coincidence, here and there about as we both flitted about from one group to the next. Roaming, wandering yet not belonging. She seemed ill-fitted and out of place wherever I saw her. She seemed an unattached peripheral among the crowd, a non-participant. It seemed to me as if she were looking for someone. Could that someone be me, I wondered?

Our path crossed, our eyes met but neither spoke a word. We were frequently adjacent and never connecting. And then it happened. Inadvertently our eyes met. And if the eyes are indeed the windows of the soul, then in that moment our souls communicated. What we both felt but were afraid to express, our souls lacked no such restraint, straight to the point with no guile or secrecy. Suddenly these two lonely souls impatient on their keepers to bridle their hesitations, cast aside the restraints and and acted without fear. in a moment they transacted their business. No negotiations or compromise but a raw naked exchange between them. No terms given, none required. Two lost souls in a sea of people, floating about in the crowd.

Our souls met. Our eyes fastened on each other. In one single imperceptible glance we expressed our latent desires. No words exchanged but none were needed. Nothing was said. Words weren't needed. In that brief glance lasting less than a millisecond, our souls connected. The conversation you could not hear...

Suddenly time slows. The moment is frozen as the crowd stills. The background fades away revealing two souls to linger.

"Hey."
"Hey."
"I've been missing you."
"Me too. Do you still love me?"
"Yes. Yes, I do. I want us to be together."
"Yes. I too. I love you."
"I love you too."
"One day you will be mine; we will be together."
"I know. I can't wait..." A pause.
"I've been looking for you."
"I've been watching you."

They talk and touch and laugh. clutching, grasping, clinging together tightly.

She: "I'm so tired of the charades, hiding behind a facade. When can we tell each other how we feel?"
He: "I wish I knew. One day."
"Do you think they will ever figure it out?"
"Eventually."
They kiss.
"One day surely they will figure it out and no logic or reason will be able to keep us apart any longer. I feel it." 
"I feel it, too."
"One they will discover what our hearts already know." Embracing. "Won't they be surprised?"
"To say the least. All those who would laugh at the prospect of us together; aren't they in for a shock!"
"Maybe not as much as we will be," she says!

They laugh

"I think on some level of consciousness we both know it...our minds tell us we can't be together. Too many reasons, too many obstacles; the difference between our ages, our families, our own fear of rejection.
As they start to look away, "Don't leave me again," she pleads.
"I can never leave you. You're in all my waking thoughts."
"One millisecond," she complains. "Is that all they can give us? Look at them! Are they so afraid to admit to themselves how they feel?"
"I guess so," he smiles.
"See you around."

One last embrace, one last lingering kiss. And then they separate. Time resumes. The surroundings begin to fade back in.

We break the glance, our eyes look away. We  both part company, pretending nothing happened between us.

Dejected, I turn away resisting the urge to stare back at her. As I walk away, I can't resist the urge to reach out and tug at her purse as she stands there with her back to me. Not looking back I keep going, reaching up to wave my hand back at her; as she turns to see who nudged her.

"Hey." She calls my name.

"Hey," I reply over my shoulder without looking back.
She smiles at me. I smile back at her without turning as I walk away. Suddenly she's taken with a capricious urge to run after me and chat like an eight year old girl. She stops herself. "What would he think?" She hesitates, then looks down realizing the moment is lost.

It's not enough ...but it's enough for now.

I sigh loudly to myself. She hears me. And that's the end of that ...until our eyes meet again.