In Safeways Between Two Smiles

I see her eyes light up
and follow them:
a baby in a trolley seat
looks past the bright shiny plastic shapes
strung by doting parents
before his eyes,
bemused
at the ceiling of Safeways.

She goes to him, cooing
"Beautiful!"
remembering joy,
wanting to share the delight
of innocence.

A believer in Empiricism
he ponders the evidence:
finds the meaning of the shapes
she offers
of upturned mouth and crinkle-framed
radiant eyes' gentle grace:
Good.

They smile at each other
reverberating
the welcome
of equals.

A man watches
smiling politely
an old woman
with moles
and moustache bristling round her gaptoothed mouth

then looks at me
as if to share a joke;
I smile back politely
wondering:
when I am old as she,
will his son have learned
to treat me so
politely?