Love With Cream And Sugar Poem by Daniel Pace

One day a man went walking down a grimy city street,
Seeing only the dark in everyone he'd meet
An all too common life style over-worked and stressed
A classic cynic who didn't see light or anything as blessed
Gloom surrounded this man and followed him around
More often than not, his eyes were to the ground,
Living life day by day,
But not caring either way
This man walked and almost passed a coffee shop,
By some force of chance he abruptly stopped
Looking at his watch, he estimated he had some time
Before he must go to work and back to the grind,
Inside he walked to the sound of a small chime
He looked about him and stepped to the back of the line,
At the counter, a woman, adorned in an apron of green
Who was a bit shorter than him, slender and lean
Eyes like a forest and a smile like the sun,
Her eyes shone of laughter as she greeted everyone,
For a painfully long time, he'd felt only numb
He almost didn't recognize his hearts increased thrum!
As the line got shorter, she brushed back her hair
It was all he could do not to stare,
'She must be spoken for' he said to himself,
He imagined a chiseled man with immense wealth
He did so slyly so as not to be seen,
Looked to her left hand to see... No ring!
But surely she'd have no interest in someone like him
And he brought himself to sadness as the line ever thinned
It seemed like forever but he was next in line,
The young lady flashed him a smile so kind
As reserved as he tried act,
His rough demeanor immediately cracked,
For the first time in a long time he wasn't upset
His felt light as a feather the moment their eyes met,
For a second he paused and his breath got shorter
As she asked him what he'd like to order,
Of all the things that raced through his mind,
Not once had he considered, in all that time,
He admitted he didn't know, to her delight
She chuckled a bit and smiled with light
His heart beat so loud, he swore she could hear
As she casually drew near
She made a suggestion, one of her specialties she said with pride,
Then eagerly proceeded to tell him what all was inside,
He agreed as normally as he could
Though he was nervous as any man would
As he waited on his order, he watched her dance around with such grace,
Light seemed to emanate from her bright smile, that never left her face,
All too soon, his order was ready
He thanked her and took the coffee with hands so unsteady,
He shoved the receipt in his pocket without a second thought,
In he took a casual sip to her pleasure before hurrying off,
Later at his office things seemed somehow okay
This lightheartedness continued for the first part of the day,
As he finished his coffee he thought back to that girl,
The one who'd smiled and brought light to the world,
He figured he had only imagined a spark
Slowly his mind receded to thoughts of dark,
A crinkle of a paper woke him from his slump
As he looked at the receipt it made his heart jump
On the little paper, in writing so carefully marked,
Was the girls name, number, and several hearts