Speculation

If he had merely smiled,
she would certainly have smiled back.

Or if he had offered, say, an orange,
a pleasant waxy glove of color,
a burgeoning world of pith and pulp
plucked unexpectedly from its citrus orbit,
then too, with yes please, thank you,
she would have smiled back.

Or if it were a joke, a joke
which had just then occurred to him
as his eyes scanned the effect
of waning light stretched out before them,
even a joke he had known for years, perhaps
one his grandfather had told him
on just such a gathering autumn evening,
if he had merely offered a joke,
surely then her generosity
would have proved magnificent,
and her smile, magnanimous.

If he had but thought,
had not let that slight phrase slide across his lips into the space
that formed the gloaming distance
between their bodies,
she just might have smiled.

Emily P.