Hunger

"Standing at the corner
watching all the cars go by''...

People waving and smiling
when they saw my sign:
"Free Hugs"

And then I saw her,
the little girl skipping up the street
begging her mother:
"Please, can I have a hug?
It will be just like one from Nana.
I miss her so much".

She ran up to me,
and, on my knees,
with eyes closed,
I folded my arms around her,
feeling her little heart beat
next to mine,
as she whispered:
"Nana is in Heaven, you know... "

When I opened my eyes,
as she slid from my arms,
I realized that all of it had been a dream,
a dream about the longing,
the hunger for the touch of another.

I realized that from my own yearning
had come the gift of giving to another
what their heart desired and longed for.

After all these months of sheltering in place
being denied the touch, the embrace
of a loved one,
I had been given that which I so had missed,
the embrace, the closeness
of a loving being
if only in a dream.