The Coffeeshop

How do you fall in love with someone you don't know?

He fell in love with the way her hair fell over her shoulder.

He fell in love with the crook of her elbow,

The book in one hand and a coffee to-go in the other.

He fell in love with the music leaking out of her earphones,

The weepy autumn songs she played when her heart was broken

And the throbbing bass when she was ready to fly.

He fell in love from the other side of the counter,

Through subdued peeks between pastries,

Glances over the cash register,

Sometimes over the shoulder of the customer still thinking about what to order.

He fell in love with her drink,

A mocha with shots of dark and white chocolate,

And the way it rolled off her tongue as she continued to ponder the menu.

He fell in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Arthur Conan Doyle,

Vincent van Gogh.

The Christmas presents she ordered for her friends:

Peppermint bark, chocolate-covered pretzels, tea samplers,

Greeting cards for her to fill in herself,

And the words that he imagined she filled them with.

Words that would flow from her pen like poetry.

Aureate. Basorexia. Demure. Labyrinth. Serendipity.

He pictured her handing them out, a scarlet scarf wrapped around her delicate neck,

Cheeks and nose tinted pink from the chill,

With a broad smile across her rosy lips.

He fell in love with the way she never noticed his gaze,

Her naivete and her politeness when she ordered,

Then the way she returned dutifully to the seat by the window,

Not another word to him in the meantime.

He fell in love with his own broken heart,

Dreaming of something that would never be,

And waking up to a nothing that would never change.

Reviews

[melissa]

this had a nice flow to it i like it

[Sami Khalil]

A nice poem .
I like the most:
The weepy Autumn songs she played when her heart was broken.
He fell in love with the way she never noticed his gaze.