A Similar Shaped Nose

I see a girl opposite me, 

Standing at the bus stop, 

Her eyes are focused on the ground below, 

Yet her mind is somewhere else entirely, 

She looks so familiar, 

Although I’m sure we’ve never met, 

We look the same age, 

With her loose jeans and 

baggy tee,

It’s not until I take a step towards her, 

That I realise, 

That she looks like me.

The same brown hair, 

A similar shaped nose,

The same nervous twitch, 

When the anxiety starts to overthrow, 

I walk closer,

I don’t know why,

I have the urge to ask her, 

If she would only reply,

‘Do we know each other?’

Her lips curve into a quick smile, 

It’s then I recognise,

The familiar sadness in her eyes, 

She says nothing, goes back to staring at the ground, 

She won’t look me in the eye, 

It feels like there’s much left unsaid, 

This stranger, stuck inside her own head. 

I realise I am not looking at another girl,

But a woman.

Her years of life suddenly so visible on her face,

Her mask has faltered, 

And her disguise is gone,

A woman who was a girl, 

Anxious, 

Hopeful,

Scared. 

A girl who became a woman, 

Despite what her dreams whispered,

Despite what she had planned,

A woman who would become a mother,

A mother to a girl,

Who had the same nose,

And brown hair, 

Who had the same nervous twitch,

And anxiety to follow,

I am looking at my Mother, 

She was a girl,

Just like me, 

Standing at the bus stop,

A girl who struggled,

And fought,

Who wished for a different path, 

A girl who had no idea what was planned, 

Who didn’t know what to do,

Or what to say, 

A girl who had her whole life before her, 

But she was just trying to get through the day,

Maybe we aren’t so different after all, 

Her and I, 

Now that I see her fully,

With my own eyes, 

Maybe we could,

If she would only open up,

Maybe we,

If only she,

Maybe,

If only…

If.

j.m.b.