Strangers, Again

Met entirely by chance, therefore
these must surely be friends
not yet recognized. As casual
strangers, a brief and serendipitous
courtesy as we pass on a woodland
trail, pausing to greet and exchange
the most mundane pleasantries
of trifling brevity. Yet a measured
nuance in acknowledgement leaves us
in one another's orbit to linger, expand
the conversation and recognize in
each other a bond neither has any
immediate wish to sunder by
parting. We linger, inviting one the
other to a narrative then a rejoinder
and are drawn deeply into a
connection of civil familiarity
as though discovering new kinships.
When parting does occur, a conflict
of satiety in social intercourse and
regret at its finality ensues. And we
muse how strange life can be when a
casual encounter exposes one to the
presence of surely the dearest of
people, such brief trusted friends
and suddenly, strangers again.