The single plate clinked the single cup
beside the single fork and knife.
He hadn’t felt this giddy
Since early college life.

Wash the dishes, remove the trash
was each day’s routine.
The dreariness of life droned on until
her departing form he’d seen.

He’d met her at the garbage shaft
when her walker bumped his cane.
Now, with anticipation running high,
he hoped to meet again.

He’d smiled as he took her tiny bag
and put it down the chute,
while unobtrusively noting how
her dainty hands were cute

He’d said, “Oh it’s quite alright.”
when she apologized,
then he intentionally memorized
the sparkle in her eyes.

Was her schedule the same as his?
Had he missed her times before?
She lived just down the way from him
where WELCOME hung on the door.

Should he take that box of shortbreads
some five doors down the hall?
Ask her to share a pot of tea?
Oh, what was the protocol?

So, clutching his little bag of scraps,
he stood behind his door,
and glanced out through the peephole,
and hoped to meet once more.