Lost in your world

Supine on the bed with your book,
Brow furrowed in concentration,
You are lost in a world of fiction;
Oblivious to my presence,
And to the din from outside.

Where children, fat and happy,
Squeal and splash with delight
In a pool under lurking gray clouds
That shed sparse plump raindrops;
Falling like tears on the dusty earth.

From my chair by the window
I watch your face translate words
From the pages that have devoured you
Into frowns, incredulous arched brows,
Sudden smiles of gleaming white teeth.

Fiddling with the oversized ring
On your right hand, spinning it
Round and round on a slender finger
While large brown eyes march
From left to right across each page.

Sudden laughter like a cloudburst,
“Oh my god, he did NOT just say that!”
The spell of silence now broken;
“What?” I ask, hoping you will let me in.
“Nothing,” you say. “Just something I read.”