This is not a poem
And it is long.
Or so I thought.
Because of how the words
Were put to together
Like rhyming notes.
Yesterday was unfortunate.
Not for me but for a classmate.
It was almost the end of morning
Along the busy road
Near our campus building.
A mentally-ill bum wandered
The crowded pavement.
As the college students
Walked happy by their pair.
They just passed him by,
Ignoring his crazy antics.
As for her, she walks alone.
It was a chance for him,
To show up to her unbeknown.
Then the guy acted to stab her
With his grip on her shoulders,
Sending chills on her bones.
Screaming was her only option
Yet the crowd only heard the horns.
She was able to run for help
Yet she was still helpless.
She still walked back to campus
Alone, holding back her tears.
Her face was redden by fear.
And there I knew she wasn't ok.
I immediately asked what happened.
I never felt close to her.
Ever since first year college.
I don't see her as my villain
Nor even my heroine.
She was just a nobody to me
Yet everything change yesterday.
I never thought I'd feel empathy.
To somebody like her.
I couldn't do any special thing.
All I could offer,
were pieces of tissue paper.
And a bottle of water
Hoping she would calm down.
I hid my phone to join her silence.
I just sat beside her
as we wait for the bell.
There I witnessed how
her seemingly close friends
makes fun of what had happened.
They didn't even ask if she's okay.
They just passed her by.
And played on their phones.
I didn't waste my time
On degrading them in my mind.
I only focused on her.
A memory of my father
flashed before me.
A moment of similarity.
Me as her friends
Her as my dead father.
I waited for one of her friends
to accompany her after.
Yet nobody volunteered.
My worries for her led me
Choosing to volunteer myself.
And coincidently, it was raining.
From the back of my head,
There was an urge
To share my umbrella
When her's suddenly close.
Her smile gradually returned.
I notice it as we crossed the road
and we walked side by side
By the pavement.
I finally felt ease
when I received her thank you
after we arrived at her station.
What I felt wasn't romance.
I just felt it was a fateful chance.
I somewhat found our common ground.
I think I'll miss her
When we graduate next year.
