All After

I remember the last time I saw you.
I didn’t.
See you in fact.

I sat with my head down
in a book
that is after all
how I usually sit.

All after
they’ll say that
‘Her and her books.
Yes,
Wasn’t that something else?’

So, there I sat
head down.
And all of a sudden I felt a love
there is no other word.
A love.
A love by my face.

Cheek to cheek.

Close
by my ear
a whisper:
“meet me there?
In a hour?
Please?”

All After

I nodded ever so gently
never looking up
my smile
wider than all that
it crossed from page to page
covered all of my book.
Every story.

All after
after all.

I nodded.
And you walked away.
Gone.
One would think that the place would have felt empty then.
Bare.
Oh, but it did not.
It was so, so full.
So full
of you
by my ear
all after.
A love.