I see them sometimes
in the distance
in neighborhoods
I visit infrequently.
I spy them
tripping down sidewalks
and hide before they can see me.

While sneaking through shadows
I spy them
– those three –
traveling amiably
ambling away on the avenue
and I think about the path that took me here
and how it led me to them.

I could have arrived at this destination
in so many ways
but I chose a route
a different direction
where I see her
with him
and their little one
a little one whom I might have known
very much better.

Instead
I see her
and her family
only in passing
in lands I barely know
until I shrink before their gaze.