A Time & Place Best Not Discussed

The morning walk was going as uneventfully as ever

Until a woman walked up and said "Didn't we know each other in '94?"

In over twenty years of morning walks the total times anyone 

Had ever said anything to him at all

Equaled a grand total of, well, never

Staring intently at her face as if it were an unusual flower

Wondering if maybe she had mistaken him for the guy who lived next door

He repeated the question to himself and replied

"If we did that would mean we were locked up in the same psych ward"

The woman seemed to stop breathing when she heard that 

And then laughing said, "Well, now I'm quite certain that we did."

Which, if you factor in that he now was living seven states from there

Meant that a random coincidence of geography was afoot 

The chances of such a meeting had to be a phenomenal stat

The woman stared at him and realised he was being serious

As he stared right back with almost irrational intensity

Trying to remember a time he had spent years working to forget

Which made his efforts an exercise in futility 

"I must apologise," He said with courteous grace

"For I cannot rightly recall you or your name at this moment"

The space between them seemed to widen a little

And she spoke an apology with a hint of sadness

"My mistake, I thought I recognized your face"

After slight mutual hesitation they both resumed

Their walking in opposite directions on the same path

Both leaving the presence of the other with the same thought

That sometimes it's best not to revisit an old wound