Chance Encounters Across the Narrow Ridge (New Poem)
by Tim Kavi
walking there whether in spirit
or in my body
my shadow grows in the illuminated light
or even the darkened night
yet, there are two souls there;
a single glance across the crowded terminal
or beside the rusted iron of a forgotten bridge,
the quiet collision of two strangers
where the noise of the world collapses
into the singular geometry of an I and a Thou.
it happens across the sprawling arc of a lifetime,
in the slow accumulation of decades
when paths cross once and never again,
leaving a permanent echo in the ribs.
it happens across the rotation of a year,
in autumn light striking a doorway
where a brief conversation alters the weather of the mind,
turning an ordinary Tuesday into a landmark.
it happens over the tightening rings of weeks,
at the corner of a market or a dim library aisle,
when a paused step and a shared question
open a door that cannot be shut.
sometimes it is compressed into a single day,
an afternoon spent talking with someone;
one whose name is never learned,
yet whose presence reorders the internal landscape completely.
and sometimes it shrinks down further,
into a minute or two of eye contact on a halting train,
a sudden suspension of routine
where destiny makes its quiet, undeniable call:
to recognize the infinite dignity of another breathing soul
before the doors slide open
and the crowd sweeps you back into the current.
where life comes calling
kindred souls, or someone so different
you would never have dreamed of knowing
there is the light of the sacred YOU
the being I am called to know.
