how little i know

she sits slumped on the middle seat of the train-

a book 

half slipping out of her

threadbare tote bag.

her eyes seem vacant and unseeing

and she looks as if she has done it all

and been defeated.

or maybe she has been defeated

because she could

do nothing at all.

i cannot take my eyes off this

miserable looking girl

sitting on the middle seat of the train

with her vacant eyes

 and the thick

viscous bubble of sadness

 swirling around her.

i can imagine her going to an empty

matchbox apartment

sitting on a threadbare couch 

with the same

vacant unseeing look

in her eyes-

a shrill sound interrupts my thoughts

and i see the girl fish out her cell phone

her eyes suddenly changed

and she screams "Ashleigh" in a high pitched

nasally voice and goes on to chatter about some nightclub

and i look into the distance

through the window,

my eyes vacant and

unseeing.