A spark of recognition ran through them
as they tried to gauge
what was already known.
He sat watching her eyes
searching the void between them.
Again.

The unspoken yet evident truth
hung heavily in the air.
Firing quizzical looks her way
was shadow reading for one so slow
to commit or even attend.
Her smile and nod, curt and restrained,
was not enough to bridge
the growing gulf between them.
He knew not how to fix it.

Sensing her resigned despondency,
he avoided the unspoken other options
as the silence closed in.
Again.