A Poem About People-Watching

A busy cafe

I'm in a coffee shop

And a couple is sitting across from me

Talking quietly.

I wish for their lives. I make up a story in my head.

They have serious expressions on their faces.

'How can one be so lack-lustre?' I think.

He bends over his laptop, while she speaks.

He doesn't seem to be listening

Then I hear her, louder, say,

'There's no reason for us being here now'.

It felt like a disagreement

And I made up that they were married.

Married couples are never happy.

She left. He stayed.

He focuses on his laptop, a hand on his chin.

My glances are self-conscious

To write this, I feel like an intruder.

I took it all in:

The lack of connection,

The suppressed anger as it's a public space.

And I recollected that I'd seen this guy before.

And I knew he'd have a pretty wife, somehow.

I thought he had all he needed.

But maybe he doesn't.

Maybe it's one of those marriages

That looks serene on the surface.

Only a good life from the outside

Looking in.

Maybe we idealize people's lives

as a way of coping with our own

People-watching with rose-tinted glasses

'Relationship goals', but less-than-perfect in reality.

You look a little closer

And you see that what they have is not that special

Maybe they have issues that you would find intolerable

Maybe you're just not a 'relationship person'

So, you don't want their life, do you?

You have to be happy with what you've got

Which is a lot.

Written by:

Helen Flower

Written: 17/07/24

Edited: 22/07/24

#peoplewatching #theworldgoesby #coffeeshops