Yesterday, I saw you.
You were hopelessly homely... until you smiled -
and even though I forgot - am forgetting you - daily.
Your smile broke my forgetting,
and I was caught -
floating on the waves of memory.

You - looking at me incredulously - touching me without touch -
stop making me delicate, I am not.

You - calling me over to flirt - ignoring me in the hall -
why do I come? - weakness is unbecoming.

You - pushing me tight against the car to kiss me - pirate plunderer -
I distract you - you resist.

You - the anarchist.

You - with your stars.

You - hands in your hair - "not this embarressed since you were twelve."

You - finding yourself reading Ulysses - a family of librarians and teachers - a brother, an uncle, a son.

You - 28 at home, 32 in a bar.

...but no regrets. I will forget.

You - the deliberately forgotten - you will be nothing.
...and I will exist.

When I remember you,
I forget me.
We can't both be.

It's just that yesterday I saw you, and you smiled.