You and I

We seem the same.  One day, you may know this.

In all the classes we converge within
Through the same paths we walk down the similar halls
And in that we buy the same brand of mechanical pencil
We have lived in the same neighborhood
Watched the same plays unfold on the stage of the world
For the same fifteen years
How when you walk, you swing your arms just as I do
Your mother drives a blue van, just like mine
I’ve seen you tie your shoes and you still do bunny-ears, like me
And you friends point this out with laughter in their voices, as did mine
We’ve done the same assignments for the same teachers
Had problems with the very same Chemistry equations

But we are quite different.  This I have come to know.

When you smile, others smile on cue
When you speak, they turn their ears towards you
When you reach, hands spring out like weeds in clean, dark soil and reach back
When you walk, they follow
When you want, they will provide

I do not know why this is.  Neither of us have the answer.

There is a long hallway in our school that we both walk every day.
Yesterday, they were empty as students sat at their respective positions
Soaking and scorning the knowledge presented so readily to them.
I was passing through this long hallway, empty and vast
Save for you
Approaching steadily from the other end.
Our footsteps played off each other
Matching tempos on the offbeats
As we came closer
There was a measure of tension, as I worried as to my obligations
In such a meeting, but I supposed the standard smile would suffice.
But as we came close
Met
Passed
You would not meet my face with your eyes,
Refused to see me.

One day, we may realize that we both know why.