Through Quiet Eyes

By Allison Gee

I don’t know what to do 

When I observe so much that it exhausts me

Does anyone else notice the way the mom on the plane

Yells at her daughter? Or does anyone think about the exhaustion she has gone through to be at this point?

I imagine that she never wanted this life for herself.

3 kids and a ghost of a husband, 

One that she can only get a lingering scent of.

The void of doing it all alone.

The moment she closes her eyelids and the swaying in her arms stops 

The baby asleep in her arms wakes, sounding like the sirens of a cop

I wonder if she will ever take a break and if her kids will ever get to grow up without an angry mom. 

Does anyone else notice the old man who 

Sits alone at brunch every Sunday? Or does anyone think about the lessons and trials he has lived through?

I think about his family, wherever they may be, and 

The life he gave to them all.

How his wife has moved on to bigger things

And how he probably thinks about her every day when he wakes up 

just like he has for the past 50 years.
I imagine him taking his daily walk and finding the patch of tulips that she loved, and I imagine him sitting on the same park bench that he used to take his kids to.

I imagine he makes his coffee with creamer because that's how she liked it, so now he does too.

I wonder if he is lonely and if he thinks about the end more than the present.

a tulip feild, by Yoksel

Does anyone else notice the shake in the table

During third period from the girl who sits across from me? Or the way she picks around her nails till they are raw?

I contemplate why she would do this 

And I am reminded that it is far beyond me.

Maybe it’s the pressure of growing up

Not knowing who or what to be

Maybe it’s the adults who only see kids for their accomplishments and failures

Or maybe it’s the kids who have convinced her she doesn’t mean much.

I wonder if she will ever learn who she is before she lets other people define her. 

I not only see but I feel things that to most isn’t even an afterthought.

Some will tell me an aware mind is a gift, and others will call it a curse.

I see things from every perspective, and it can sometimes make me forget my own.

Which is why I am always left wondering 

Does anyone else notice?