A Love Letter to Strangers (A Poem)
The streets are lined with people under the glowing lights. Strangers, they pass you by,
you follow them with your eyes. You glance up at the door hoping it’s them. They blend into the background of your life. You forget about them until they reappear.
Strangers pass you by every day, all the time. They float by. You barely give most of them a second thought. You learn that the strangers that are always there. The ones who pass you by every day, the ones you share space with. The person who’s always on the bus with you. The person you pass everyday on the way out. The person you see in the same hallway every time you’re there. The strangers you see every day become a fixture, a point in your day.
The guy who I speak to once in a while offers a bit of humor. The person who smiles at me every time I walk in. The guy who sits next to me in the chairs that swallow you up. The person who I make eye contact with in the back of the room. The person I walk out with, even though I don’t know them.
I don’t know who any of these people are, I barely know their names. There’s something about each person, something that catches your eye. They become like a glimmer in a sea of people around you, a recognizable form. You learn where they are in the room. You recognize them over the heads in the crowd. You know what their bag looks like and the pattern of their steps. Slowly they become a fixture in your life.
You follow them with your eyes. Glance up at the door hoping it’s them.
A love letter to strangers. To the way one person can make the day seem a little nicer. To the way the same person smiling at you every day can make the morning feel a little less early and a little less harsh. The way someone else can break you out when you get lost in your head, like turning on a little light that reminds you to look around. The way someone else can change the trajectory of the day from down to up, from bad to good.
There’s a calm that comes with a steady presence. A comfort in the same people being in the same place with you. You don’t need to speak to them, you don’t need to know them, you simply share space. Strangers can make all the difference. Sometimes you can’t be alone; strangers offer company in a safe way, a way that doesn’t require vulnerability. They feel like an anchor outside yourself; a way to stay present. On a bad day, the same person sitting next to you in the lounge can make the room stop spinning.
A love letter to the way people can be drawn to someone they’ve never met. The way you can connect with someone without speaking. The way that sharing space with someone, someone you know only by sight, can make all the difference.
They blend into the background of your life. You forget about them until they reappear.