Stolen Kiss

Self-portrait.

You were curious about the exotic look and feel. Dark eyes felt you were unattainable.

My lack of a sense of adventure was molded by rigid segregationist thinking.

We worked together never really revealing ourselves to each other keeping an air of mystery about our respective lives.

My silence was the result of shame in my humble beginnings and fear of rejection. In any case, you were a co-worker to be respected and a distance was maintained.

Working so closely that our bodies inadvertently touched one day and you seized the moment. A kiss was stolen in the copy room never to be repeated.

The distance still remained — was it my shock or lack of response that put up the walls of distance and formality?

For a brief moment, our cultural and racial baggage disappeared, and we met soul to soul for a stolen kiss.

©2021. Virginia Robles-Villalba aka Virginia Rosario