A Love Poem For Someone I Do Not Know

 
Her posts online are
Close ups of her face
Talking into the camera
Glancing aside
Now and again
To consult a text.

Always a little flustered
A lock of hair out of place.
Sometimes tired
Sometimes chatty,
Full of hopes and schemes
Sometimes sad,
Weeping for the ugliness,
The brutality of the world.
Once she shares her shock
And hurt at being dumped.
Once she reads from the depth
Of a sleepless night.

No matter what
She is always beautiful
Beautiful in her honesty
Beautiful in her thoughtfulness
Beautiful in her willingness
To show herself
Emotionally naked
To the world.

The posts are two
Or three years old now
She seems to have
Become enmeshed
In some family tragedy
And has gone silent.

I watch her old posts
Over and over
Enjoying a moment of fake intimacy
A sort of emotional porn
Like rereading old love letters
That weren’t written to me
But still I can pretend.