The Wait
L'Écho (Echo), study for Une Baignade, Asnières (Bathers at Asnières), Geroges Seurat, 1883-84.
Credit: Yale University Art Gallery. Provenance: Paul Signac, Paris; Jean Ajalbert, Paris; Wildenstein & Co., New York; Edith Malvina K. Wetmore
It’s a cloudy afternoon, as she sits
alone in the café,
Staring aimlessly through
the wet window.
It’s been six months,
every day she waits for him,
Searches for him,
as people come and go.
Her pale hands wrap around the cup,
she sees her reflection
In the window. Her face looks
more lively, less distorted.
What is the point? Is my illusion
Controlling me? She takes
a deep breath, her mind
ripples away, lost in thought.
Jingi Yu is a freelance illustrator from China based in Brooklyn who is pursuing an MFA at the School of Visual Arts.