Faces That I Remember

Rowing through the
spirals of memories that stalk my life,
I squish, swirl and stumble
as I see myself flipping through
the pages  of the million people I remember.


One of them was a woman,
who grabbed a random kid 
running in the corridor
 and said “I loved the way you laughed today”.
A minute later I saw that kid walk away
with a smile on his face.
A teacher, she was.

Handled none of my classes
but taught me something that was way beyond
books, chalks and blackboards.

There was a young girl the other day
who wouldn’t take her eyes off the window.
“Is it the chocolate shop that you’re looking at?“ I ask
and she says “no, I’m looking at that raindrop that is yet to dry”.
and all I could do, was smile.



Yet another day  I saw a guy run,
 as though he was running a race, all alone.
But later I realized  that
he had seen an old friend,
walk across the road
and all he wanted to do was make up for the time he lost.



These are just a few among the many
who I’ll remember
for a reason that I’m unaware,
but I know  that life is beautiful
because  of the people we meet
and the most beautiful among them 
are the strangers.