Her Presence

Her presence is a powerful one

I have no idea whether I mean that in a positive or a negative manner

Only a close analysis will help me conclude

Her hair is now a dark and somehow misty shade of auburn

Darker patches that at some time her hair has been dyed

This current colour is clearly natural, though

Her lips are a pale pink- the kind that lipstick can’t provide –

They are clearly dry from the elements, but with a faint and completely natural glow.

Maybe physical beauty is never distorted but the finery of attire can be

Her coat is old but well maintained apart from eclectically positioned scuffs

Torn from the adulterations of everyday life.

Her face is a blank canvas for imagination- it provides character, emotion is hard to find

 Her jeans display the shape of her legs perhaps more than they should

This is a malicious town, people will surely take advantage of that fact

I’m sure she doesn’t dress like this for attention, maybe she doesn’t know they’re revealing

 In fact I wish I hadn’t noticed now.

She leans against a wall, only liberally balancing against it,

She may fall at any minute, but it might not be wise to tell her this.

I don’t know this woman after all, who knows how she could respond?

Her head is oddly animated and moves casually from side to side

Of all the people I’ve encountered, she is one whose life story I’d most desire to learn,

Since her manner is almost impossible to analyse from these looks.

 After all, if she hadn’t asked me to spare change while holding a tattered sleeping bag,

 I would never have guessed she was homeless.