I sat there on that same raggedy bus lost in my thoughts. The project deadline is in 3 days. I'll need to, at the very least, gather requirements by the end of the day. My mind raced back and forth with all that must be done. This work, if done well, could mean a promotion for me. It could be such a long-awaited breakthrough for my career. Suddenly, I felt the bus jolt to a stop to collect new oncoming riders. From my periphery, I could see them filing in one by one. Drowning in my thoughts, in surrender, I threw my head back to breathe deeply and that's when I saw her.

Her skin radiated with warm, earthy tones of chestnut. Her eyes were as dark as red wine as were her long woven locs of hair cascading down over her shoulders, ultimately coming to rest at her waist. Full and shapely, her lips were like the gentle arc of two crescent moons resting one atop the other serenely. Her plain, unembellished shirt gently settled over her full breasts subtly revealing her beautiful form. She walked, rather, she swayed slowly, as her long flowing, skirt undulated from right to left and right to left again. I had not noticed that I was still holding my breath. Suddenly forced to inhale when I could take it no longer and gasped loudly. Surprisingly she sat in the seat right behind me. No one would have guessed that moments later the most melodious laughter would arise from behind me. Her giggling sounded like music, traveling up and down the musical scales, peeking at the highest of notes when she really found something funny. That is when it happened. Like daggers directly into my ear, amidst joking and bursts of laughter I heard cursings and profanities scurry from her lips. Her words were like a bitter taste from some ungodly dark hole. She flung her vile words like darts over here and over there. My enchantment was shattered into a thousand pieces and now I was seething with anger. How dare she destroy the charm, that only moments before, in which I had the pleasure of basking. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and in an instant she ruined it. She ruined it! How dare she! And in a moment of hot rage, I rose to my feet, turned around, met her gaze, and in a firm and steady voice hurled at her, "How can such ugly words come out of a mouth so beautiful?"

Startled, she gazed up at me with her beautiful brown eyes, laced with lovely black lashes, stunned and speechless. I watched her smile, bright like the stars in a black night sky, fade and fade more still. Her brown eyes remained filled with shock and amazement as I could see she was still understanding what had just been said of her. Eventually, her lips retreated together and her mouth was closed shut. Her eyes lowered and she slumped deeply into her seat. I turned slowly and assumed my seat also.

For the duration of the bus ride, she did speak a word. Not a vulgar word, nor a beautiful word. She spoke no words at all. She rode in silence not engaging even with her joking comrades anymore.

I felt flush with embarrassment. I had spoken to her harshly but in defense of myself, I thought, "She only speaks that way because she doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know her beauty. She doesn't know that those words are an act of unfaithfulness to her very essence. I only wanted her to know such talk has no place in a woman so beautiful as her. It's beneath her. She's too good for that. She's too good for this whole damned world!" No matter how I tried to rationalize it, I could not help but feel as though I had pricked her in a way that I now deeply regretted.

Eventually, the bus came to a stop and she rose to her feet. Passing by me with her head a little lower than when she had first boarded. I hoped desperately to catch her eye one more time as if to let my gaze speak what my mouth no longer could. With great fortune, she did look at me one more time, and with a raised hand I gestured to her a gentle goodbye. Really, a 'sorry' and 'goodbye.' With her delicate fingers, graced with long nails, she raised a feeble hand as if to reciprocate my goodbye. Just like that, the bus drove away and I never saw that beautiful woman again.

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion." Proverbs 11:22

For reference, this is a true story. I was the woman.