Body Language Poem by Francis Duggan

All the seats had been taken save the one next to me
And blond haired young woman sat on it she glanced my way briefly
And by that one sharp glance from her between the lines I read
That conversation would be nil a silent ride ahead.

Her body language told to me what words could only say
That to stranger she would not talk not even bid good day
Whilst she read a woman's magazine through carriage window I did look
I did not stare or look at her I left her read her book.

Why few people choose to speak to you on a suburban train
Is not so hard to understand and easy to explain
Urban dwellers suspicious of strangers and suspicion breeds fear
You read their body language it makes it all so clear.

And by her body language a fool could even see
That she was not interested in conversing with me
She glanced at me just briefly and opened her magazine
And I gazed out the window on the suburban scene.

A woman in her early twenties and one I'd not seen before
Sat on the seat beside me for half an hour or more
And as I stood to leave the train she did not glance my way
Her body language told me what words could only say.