Bent Words

Bent Words

January 10, 2008

It was the surprise that hit her eyes when she saw him � he didn�t realize how familiar, how dazzling that look was, it had been so long. He remembered it then and how often he had seen that expression before. Rounding the corner to where she was after only a day�s absence and you�d think he had handed her a promise that her every wish would come true, the way her eyes grew and sparkled. �That�s her,� he thought, wondering how it must be for her � how nothing grew dull within her eyes.

She had seen him a thousand times before, several times within one day, consistently within one night and yet there it was � that beautiful bewilderment, that perfect acknowledgement, that extreme awe at his mere presence. He thought that perhaps she saw something different, something totally new and striking each time but he never thought to ask before now. In fact, in the past, he was more skeptical of her searing stare than he was curious over it; fiddling over the faults she must surely see, calculating the cost she must surely be unwilling to pay. That anxious, wide-eyed gaze was always negative� expecting more, wanting whatever it was beyond his reach to give, hoping for something better. Or so he once thought.

Now it was something completely new and thrilling and he desperately longed to fill her space just to see what it was she saw. He wanted to ingest it, inhale it, swim in it and feel it prickling at his skin � he wanted to be infiltrated by that apparent elation, shocked by that extreme enormity and caressed by that adoration. And he was, in a way, just for the recognition of it all. Just because he looked a little deeper.

How sweet it was then � how supreme it is now!

The fact that she fumbled and jerked and shook and found fierce fascination, so suddenly, in the ceiling of all places, only made him more aware. She could not control her movements, she could not direct her eyes so that they would abandon their shine and she could not find a single word that seemed worthy enough of being spoken � she was at an utter loss for what to do. He was aware now, the reality of his presence, the shift of his stance, the rise of his elbow, the bend of his head, his smiling sigh� all of it, slight or incredible, affected her.

To think, after all those years, that he never knew although he had seen it nearly every day. And it was held right there, in front his face, the surprise that never failed to hit her eyes.

Written at 8:32 p.m.