Dear Stranger

Dear Stranger,

I long to see your eyes, open them up to me

Not to see your soul,

Not to see your past,

And not to see your secrets

But to see me in them, how you see me

All else can be forgotten

All else can be forgiven, as long as I can see me in them

Dear Stranger,

Please, I just want to hear your voice

What does it sound like?

Perhaps a child’s lullaby

Maintained only in a distant memory, calling to me

Longing to be heard each night,

But each night growing fainter,

Now only a whisper in my most distant of dreams

Dear Stranger,

I want to know you

Know you more than just the photograph

Worn down by tiny fingers, tracing the replication of you

Trying to get to know you

To memorize each and every bit of you

Only to slowly be forgotten, as those tiny fingers grew,

Becoming a blurry image behind preoccupied eyes

Yet the photograph still has not collected dust

For it was not entirely forgotten

Dear Stranger,

Let me see you smile, a real, happy smile

The smile you give a friend, who was never truly forgotten

Merely misplaced in time

But time has also brought them back to you

Giving you a chance to get to know each other once more

A smile that could never, truly, be captured in a photo

Or even in a memory, no matter how strong

One that must be experienced

Dear Stranger,

I want to see your lips form my name once more

Perhaps followed by a smile?

And then maybe the words “It’s good to see you”

Or even “I’m proud of you”

But not “Wow, you’ve grown up”

Because you don’t know how I’ve grown up or how fast

You don’t know what I’ve had to do, or how I’ve done it

You’ve missed that part of me,

Dear Stranger,

Please don’t make me hear you say you’ve missed me,

Because I already know that

You’ve missed me, you’ve missed my childhood

But we both already know that

And never tell me you’re sorry

Those words I never want to see formed on your lips

I never want to hear them in your voice, or see them in your eyes

Because those are just Band-Aid words,

They never fix a problem, never heal a wound,

They have no meaning to me now

And if anything, your absence has made me stronger

Dear Stranger,

What can I call you but stranger?

Should I call you sir?

Maybe William or Bill?

Because I am not sure I can still call you dad

Perhaps, one day, I will call to you, once again

Perhaps, one day, you will finally answer

Dear Stranger,

I long to see your eyes, open them up to me

And if I no longer see me in them,

You can close them again to me

And this time, you can keep them closed forever

And you will forever be a stranger.