In the halls of youth, where dreams collide,
A self-conscious boy felt a thunderclap inside,
She stood there, a vision, breathtaking and bright,
With piercing brown eyes that magnetized the night.
Elegant as a Coca-Cola bottle, so rare,
Her laughter was a balm, an uplifting air,
Each outfit she donned, a masterpiece spun,
Yet he sat entrenched, his heart on the run.
Freshman days flowed like rivers untamed,
His heart, an electric current, forever inflamed.
When their gazes met, a spark filled the room,
But words slipped away, lost in shadowed gloom.
Years drifted onward, like leaves in the breeze,
She became a doctor, with brilliance that frees.
While he chronicled stories, a veteran’s pen,
Her memory, a weight, like roots of a tree, deepened.
“Does she remember?” he whispers to stars,
The first day of college, their chairs like two cars,
A fleeting connection, a chance never grasped,
In the stillness of thought, his heart held fast.
For love, he mused, is a sedentary balm,
A feeling entrenched, defying time’s calm.
In the echoes of moments that slipped through his grasp,
He carries her with him, in silence, held fast.
Though life has spun on in its intricate dance,
He wonders of paths that eluded his chance.
In the tapestry woven of what might have been,
She lives in his heart, in the spaces between.
BY ALEM HAILU G/KRISTOS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 16 MARCH 2025
