10:15

Train stations

more for farewells than hellos

on an empty platform you said goodbye
I'll write I swear

Woke up one day and it was a new world
that one we had been told would be ours was gone
Franca and John and Sally and Sam
at the park late night
no city skyline
many drinks later I realized I had no idea where I was

Boarding buses for anyplace
I mean is there a place to go
it is not like a future or a job is really just that short trip on

Watched as they tore it down
that whole life
the factories, the schools, the hospitals
they tore it fucking down
Elton John on the radio
I can hold you closer I suppose
but you are slipping away

It fades
kicks back from time-to-time
Phil's on Constitution Ave.
old town old times
so drunk I can't lift my head up off the bar
I don't want to so who cares

I promised you things those years ago in your mother's yard
lying on the lawn laughing
we were young
they were promises I couldn't keep
it haunts me now that I should have known even then
nothing is worse, is it, than that

Stillness
you beside me
looking out on the yard's rusty fence
I can hear the 10:15 thundering on schedule
past the park just beyond the vacant lot

Stirring
eyes half open
you whispering
I am going to take that train
the 10:15