On The Sidewalk

On the sidewalk

A Poem by Sarah McKeever Hitt

My face doesn't look like you thought it would

and your words don't sound like I thought they would.

Somehow the landscape is not as vast as it is supposed to be,

and we are far older than we care to admit.



The differences are bigger than we had anticipated,

and my hands fidget more than I wanted you to see.

Somehow the weather is a lot colder here than the forecast said it would be

and what I wouldn't give to be home right now.



Your voice is a lot quieter than I imagined it would be

and I can't bring myself to say what I had rehearsed for months.

Somehow when this was all planned years ago

we didn't read the memo all the way through.



I pretend not to notice that you are as nervous as me

and you can't stand to be in front of me without sunglasses on

Somehow we have found ourselves where we both wanted to be

standing outside on the sidewalk.