I see her every day,

Sitting at her school desk,

Name printed across the top.

Her eyes meet no others,

Lips betray no thoughts.

Recess bell rings,

She heads for the swings,

Always takes the red one.

Gently swinging back and forth,

Shoes dragging through the gravel.

Waiting for the bus after school is out,

She walks slowly past, eyes cast downward.

Looking up, her emerald eyes catch mine,

And for a moment I live in her world,

My chest hollow and mind screaming.

It slips away, and she disappears into the crowd.

The next day, she is not in her desk,

Her name is not written across the top.

Class goes on; nothing is different,

And somehow, everything has changed.

Recess bell rings,

Red swing sways gently in the wind,

Coming to a slow stop

Above the tracks in the gravel

Where someone’s shoes used to drag.