Beautiful stranger...

Tell me it's happened to you... a complete stranger catches your eye in a public place and you can't seem to turn away. Something about them is so utterly beautiful that you just want to rest your eyes there and take it in. It's not about being attracted to them, it's about appreciating their uniqueness. It's not about a male/female thing... it's about recognizing beauty wherever it may reside. It happened to me on the bus this evening. A young man, perhaps in his twenties, was sitting next to me. His skin was the colour of dark caramel and his hair was dark with loose curls. He wore a turquoise scarf wrapped around his neck. But what seized my attention were his eyes. I have never seen eye lashes like those. They seemed to reach out clear across to the other side of the bus. Upper and lower lashes alike were dark & thick. He was talking on his cell phone and spoke a rich, melodic French that I didn't recognize at first. Was he Moroccan? Algerian perhaps? I don't know for sure, all I know is that I wish I had picked a seat across from him so that I could admire those eyes without straining my neck.

Every once in a while, I see a complete stranger - male or female - and am tempted to tell them how beautiful they are. But I'm simply not that free... yet. Maybe someday, when I don't care so much about what other people think.