Mañana

Banks were common then –
even a small cluster of shops usually had one, sometimes two
big employers – school leavers and returning women
women, lots of young women on the counters.
She looked like she put on her complexion every morning
unblemished by time, stress or ultraviolet
and the uniform of the city’s most prevalent bank.
Even in prescribed clothes she looked like the girl next door
or high school sweetheart.

Every morning for a year –
we both caught the same bus, from the same place
after a couple months she smiled
after a couple more she said good morning
after a couple more she said hello
and a couple more, hi.

Each morning I resolved …. to ask
then it always seemed better to wait … until the next day –
definitely,
for almost a year.
After the summer vacation I decided
first day absolutely no procrastination – just out with it
she wasn’t there, or ever again.