Stranger Danger

I knew a place once.

I met a lady there - on a bus that she gracefully helped me find. She had a squinty smile with a pure heart,  always looking to talk to people. I mean, really talk to people and get to know what makes them tick. She was small, she was adorably uncomfortable, but her curiosity is what stuck. It's what made her tick. Como se llama? "Chakti" she'd say, "Shakti," I'd smile.

I met a man there - on a train that I'd not so gracefully found. He had tall limbs and wise eyes that were rested on this new place he called home. He started life fresh with an optimism that made me question how a former lawyer could become so zen. His empathy was overwhelming, his calming aura infective.

I met people who weren't afraid to talk to people they didn't know. They were open, and free, and loving. They were funny, funky, and fresh. It was a place that was theirs, now is mine, because they let me learn it. They let me say, I know that place.

I want this place, right here, to be a place I know, surrounded with people I don't.