3 A.M. Stranger

I landed while the city whispered

Three a.m., the sky still silver

Steam rose up from corner carts

Neon blinking tired hearts

I dragged my bag through empty streets

Learning signs I couldn’t read

You cut across me in the crowd

Said “sorry” soft, then looked back down

It wasn’t lightning, wasn’t fate

Just two people passing late

But something in the way you stayed

Made me watch you walk away

I wish I’d bumped into you again

Another block, another turn

Just to see if you’d still look back

Or if that feeling would return

I crossed the world, you crossed my path

One quiet moment, gone too fast

I didn’t need forever then

I wish I’d bumped into you again

The city slowly learned my face

I learned the rhythm of the days

Coffee shops and crowded trains

Rain that never quite erased

Every time I heard your voice

I thought my memory had a choice

It sounded close, it sounded wrong

Like I’d known it all along

I didn’t know your name or life

Or where the nights were pulling you

I just knew something in my chest

Shifted when I walked past you

I wish I’d bumped into you again

Different hour, daylight this time

Maybe we’d laugh about the rain

Maybe I’d ask what’s on your mind

I crossed the world, you crossed my path

A borrowed glance I never asked

I didn’t need forever then

I wish I’d bumped into you again

I stood outside a crowded street

Music shaking through my feet

Someone said your name out loud

And suddenly you weren’t just you now

Screens lit up, the crowd went wild

Posters peeled back every mile

That face I passed at three a.m.

Was staring back at me again

That’s when it clicked, that’s when I knew

Why the night bent when you moved

Why the city felt rehearsed

Like I’d met you in a verse

I wish I’d bumped into you again

Before the lights, before the sound

When you were just another face

Lost somewhere in this town

I crossed the world, you crossed my path

Then crossed a stage, then vanished fast

I didn’t need forever then

I wish I’d bumped into you again

(low)

I screamed with strangers, hands in the air

You sang like you’d never seen me there

(whispered)

Stranger to you

Still I stayed

(full voice)

How does a moment change its name

From almost nothing into fame?

(crowd swell, bass thump, distant chants)

I wish I’d bumped into you again

Outside the noise, before the signs

Before your face was everywhere

Before you stopped being mine

I crossed the world, you crossed my path

I carried that and left it back

I didn’t need forever then

I just wish I’d bumped into you again