Forced maturity

We were trading life stories
and I asked you
why you seem so anxious to settle down

Your spontaneous, simple statement of
"Because i don't have a home"
rose above
the drone of unhappy voices
in the overcrowded food-court

Having underestimated
your twenty-years-of-age
and pigeon-holed your concerns
with fun, frivolous stuff,
I inhaled my breath sharply

and ached for
your astute insight on emptiness
and the volumes you left unspoken

for aaron