Drifters There you stand, sipping coffee, in solitude While the world flows around you, unheeding. A year ago I would have approached you -- Last month I would have nodded, waved, but Today I passed you by, more alien than a stranger -- One who used to know you well. The awkward, unacknowledged recognition As we find each other side by side, A strained parody of ourselves, Is sad enough to be funny And funny enough to be sad. I thought we were moving in the same direction, But the undercurrents carried us apart, unseen, Until I could no longer recognize you In the distance. How have the rushing floods eroded Edges that used to interlock To form them into barriers? I wonder if you'd see me smile, Across the gulf that separates us Even as we travel side by side, But neither of us ever dared to look. So we float along, drifters, Until another wave comes to take you away. Kathleen Walsh