Some mornings, a coffee barista reminds you of a lost love

I was, if I recall
Then, mechanistically unromantic
A clockwork creature
Desperately hungry

The world was so new,

And though I had never been
The city was bigger than I remembered,
The gravity of 23+9,
Much as I explored it
Explored me

I haven’t been to Pakistan
But I recall its subtle poetry in you
High points on cheeks
Of drunken escapades,
Knowing glances
Exchanged over office sandwiches
The world’s most interesting playground
Can appear
In the most curious of places

Toronto is not yours
Nor is it mine,
We were indeed
Two extraterrestrials
Serendipitous on a foreign planet
Learning metropolitan camouflage
Sharing winks
At its various absurdities…

Playing aloof,
I replied
“Even permanent marker washes off”
When you said 
I had left a mark on you,

But how difficult it is to predict
How a sapling
Will grow and age
In your grey matter,
A new passenger
Hitched along for the ride

Someone old 
You can pick out
In unsuspecting faces.