I Was Talking and Watching You Listen

We have met in sentences
but today I found you
old and at the end
of a New Haven space,
silent,
on wooden flooring
behind bobbing water eyes

We have met in smiles
but today I knew you
in the patched corner there
beside ripped sheet
covering screen
smudged window
and a slight regret

of another day
when we are both
The Age, clutching
drinks or a conversation
or a story about your job
and the story of my reaction

We have met in glances
like puffs of notes
but today you gave me
my dark
and in return I gave you
your poem