Perchance

Perchance I'll never know his name nor assume his thoughts, This man I saw perchance today Approaching from a distance I paid not much mind Closer yet, the eyes adjust to features I have known This man perchance I've met? His walk is slow, and carefully he treads The pavement's edge on wooded back country road No smile graced his face, but simple warmth did so exude This ragged man I met perchance today No words exchanged, just one perplexing gaze As quickly I sped by This world of mine, this world of his Perchance they do collide? I wonder now if I had stopped and gathered all my thoughts, Engaged him in the spoken word within his world and mine What would I learn perchance? Would I learn that men are not created equal? That all men are intertwined somehow? I judge not men by countenance alone , but by the spoken word I listened with my heart to words unsaid An honest man I think perchance I met By the side of the road this day And me the poorer man for sure Perchance, perchance, perchance