The Violence in Violating Social Norms

There may be a room full of people; there may be a room full of air.  There may be star-strung candles alight against the gloom.  There may be the delicate chords of a piano that levitate around the swirl of movement and blur of waiters in their dance of dinner.

It is an evening.

It is a time that I seek the only things darker than the December sky, the smoldering blackness of your eyes across a room.

There may be a table of flowers, a shimmering of candles.  There may be folded up napkins, and chevrons and plates. There may be the slight scent of flowers and paper, ice in glasses, the spread of silverware.  

There is properness, there is decorum.

There is disquiet, there is disturbance.  A slight altering of the angles, as I sense your presence and feel the brightness, the far-away headlight shine as you break free from a crowd.  The glide of you, the turmoil of you sliding into the view and eclipsing the candles strung high in the air.

It is eventide.

It is a time that I sense the only things warmer than the wax dripping in the votives is the blood rushing through my veins as you approach.

There may be strangers, discussions.  Handshakes and clenches.  Staccato laughter and knowing smiles.  It is the very slight, most socially acceptable placement of your hand on my shoulder as you glance against me on your way away from me.

There is absence, there is departure.  The contrast of colors of you as you rob me of the view in the wake of your walk.

There is etiquette, there is decorum.  There is a quick-glance but not staring.  There is appropriateness, beneath the quiet whites of the candle lights.

It is gloaming.

It is a fracture when the sudden collapse of plates beneath a waiter’s hand explode as crystal meets tile and shatters in pieces across an echoing hallway. It is gasping and unrestrained, the tumble of pretty little pieces, the fragmentation of sturdy objects, the crack, the crash, the eruption of kinetic force and heat as the glass careens and cuts.

It is a time when I sense the only thing more violent and explosive would be the moment when you and I collide.