Soulmate at the Restaurant

Here, at a small table, in a small restaurant
Alone.
Other tables, other people, lively conversation
Alone.
To my right, at another table, 10-12 feet away,
a couple, rapt in each other’s company.
Alone.

The woman? I can’t recall.
The man, clean shaven, shoulder length hair, good-looking.
As they spoke to each other, I suddenly felt odd.
I looked over.
The man was staring at me; our eyes met.

It was intense, a type of spirit communication.
Piercing dark eyes,
and my own eyes, quickly back to my food.
He was difficult to put out of my mind.
Those dark eyes.

The jolt of excitement revived me.
Was this the soulmate I had asked for?
But he was still with another,
and I was, as always, the outsider.
But the experience gave me hope,
as if the universe said, “Yes, such a thing exists.
Such a thing is possible. Don’t despair.”
It wasn’t just in my mind.
And then… I awoke. It was just in my mind.

My mind. Alone.