Every day
at the same shop
from the same person
I buy four plain bagels
for my friends

It is not the bagels
that made me choose
this particular shop

It is his beautiful greeting—
the way he hands the bagels over to me

I wanted to be the first
to offer a greeting to him—
the one who eases my stiff expression
and lightens my steps

Then, one day
he began to greet me first—
beating me to it
It was a smile
even more beautiful than before

Overjoyed
A short while later
standing before the dusty window
of the adjacent building
I gazed at my own reflection

Another version of myself—
one I had never known—
was smiling back at me.