Hard(ly) Human

Sitting on the bus
As if I'm
Made of wood
Sitting with others
As if they're
Made of stone
Sitting together
As if we're
Hardly human
As if our
Lives don't flow
As water
With each other.
No talking,
No smiling,
No eyes connecting,
No voice relating,
And I want to reach out
Across whatever barriers
Divide us
And touch lightly,
Another's humanity.
I want to ask
What the boy next to me
Is listening to,
I want to lean over
And read that woman's text,
I want to pat the knee
Of the nervous girl across from me,
And point out the window;
"Look at those clouds,
Look at that sky,
LOOK AT THAT SKY!"