Tuesday night in the restaurant

We've nothing much better to do

Than sharing a word and a drink or two

And talking about nothing at all

And just between you and me

I've been watching a couple by the wall.

He's studying cracks in the floor

She's trying hard not to cry

I feel like I'm watching a memory

Haven't we all been there once or twice...

Their silence speaks volumes to me

And here we are, trading inanities

While just ten feet away

There's a play going on

The actors are saying their well rehearsed lines

Studied over plenty of time

The act, it is changing, before their eyes

The waitress she brings them

Coffee and tea

And just for a moment

He looks at me

Looking at them....

It's intermission time

You tell me a joke and I laugh

You say that I seem a bit distant tonight

No, nothing's wrong

My friend

At all.

It's just that a couple of strangers

Have walked into my heart

And I'm watching a play

So real and so sad

That I feel that I know them

That's all.

She picks up her coat

As he pays for the bill

And they slip back to obscurity

Once more.

Where are they going?

God only knows.

I may never see them again.

But I'll always remember

Their faces, this moment

And I think

That'll I'll write them

A

Song.

©24-Feb-1988 Catherine M. Harris