By Jo Gatenby
Your train stops beside mine on the siding. Our eyes meet through the window, sparking a jolt of recognition. Though we’re strangers, it feels as if I’ve known you forever. You smile, and I know you feel it too.
After searching for so long, can it really be this easy?
Tears blur my vision. Love, laughter, wonder, pain…a lifetime of possibilities flicker between us, all there for the taking. We just have to reach out…
I place my hand on the cold glass; you raise your own to match mine.
The horn sounds, and our diverging trains pull us apart.
I hope you meet again wonderful writing
Wonderful, perfect piece of microfiction.
A beautiful story of what could have been.
Beautiful! This reminds me of a poem by the French poet Antoine Pol that was turned into a haunting song by the late great Georges Brassens. Entitled Les Passantes (the – female – passers-by), it is dedicated to all the women we love for an instant but whose destiny is taking them elsewhere. Worth a google! Je veux dédier ce poème
À toutes les femmes qu’on aime
Pendant quelques instants secrets
À celles qu’on connaît à peine
Qu’un destin différent entraîne
Et qu’on ne retrouve jamais.
That’s a wonderful story full of possibilities! Great writing!