When I saw her again

,​When I saw her again on the path where we walk, I thought I detected a smile.
She is one of those people you notice at first,
but only because she stands out by the tree, all alone.
Not the rest of the walkers, or runners, or bikers, their clothes are a telltale sign.
But fearful I was she’d fall down, or get bumped, so much in a hurry all around.
 
That smile it did last, like the air and the tree, but it reached so much further a field.
Should have stopped on the spot but my legs kept on going, 
I never could understand why.
I think it is true, it took thrice, or perhaps more, we had past by before, but
not even a nod did I proffer,  
These days I lament when my mind wonders off, to other less stately odd places.
 
Her body had trouble just keeping her upright, but the effort it took did impress.
Each step was a chore she could not disguise, but forward she moved with sweet pride. 
That smile thrown to me, yet I missed the pitch, but won’t make the same mistake twice.
 
 So eager was I for the next day to come and then it was over too soon, the next that followed, and then all the rest.
I think I’ll just wait by her tree.