Cement City

The Kind Stranger

The woman in the white fur-lined coat

     Was so kind as to return my phone

          Untouched, without a scratch

          (Somehow it had dodged the mad dash

          On a 6AM sidewalk, downtown)

So I offered

To buy her a cup of coffee

          (Insisted, more like)

And when she laughed and asked "Why?"

I replied,

"There isn't much kindness, and fewer times

     To return it."

We shared steaming lattes

Over a quiet table at Tim Horton's. 

     (I think she'd have much rather preferred

     To spend it with her husband.)

We chatted

Something about the weather, and work, and things that one forgets when it's lost in small talk

Then bid the other goodbye.

That was all she wanted, to return my phone

And that was all I wanted, to talk with a person I've known

If only for ten minutes

Just two simple beings

          Meeting on the streets

With goodwill and some curiosity.

Simple, indeed.