class thirteen

absent

this is what the world would feel like
if you had gone away.

the seats are still filled
cool stone statues
faces eroded from storms
that have passed
through here
before
immobile, surreal,
strangers.

you'd still be the only one
i'd want to know

their faces,
locked in attention
mindless pupils regurgitating
undigested knowledge
spewing from holes without lips
eyes without seeing,
blind.

your eyes would have wandered
searching for all those others don't think
to look for

seeing the world through windows
and placing yourself in realms of rhythm
feeling the pulse of the room, of those next to you
finding a gaze that meets yours and locking eyes
exploring the line where she ends
and you begin again
dancing like a dervish, whirling around the thought
that there is you, and there is more
all while you sit,
motionless

it's inconceivable to them,
their infertile, barren wombs,
lifeless.

you're elsewhere now
i wonder if you think of me