Pennsylvania Station

I saw her on the platform

sitting waiting for the train

the same as I remembered

little changed from Soho days

We spent our days in Soho

loving through the afternoons

but we wanted very different lives

too great a gulf to compromise

and so we went our separate ways

our paths now crossing for a moment

‘neath the Pennsylvania clock

.

That’s how I remember it.

She maybe saw it different.

.

She saw me too and smiled at me.

“How are you!” A warm embrace

two former lovers face to face.

And it felt so good to see her

while looking every bit the part

a successful and established man

heading home to wife and child.

Over coffee in the diner

we caught up on years gone by

She never saw me in a suit

remembering the sax instead

playing blue notes Friday nights.

Still composing sharps and flats?

Trading gains and option rights.

And what of music your first love?

She knew what made me happiest

the music I had given up.

The publication of her novel

New York Times best seller list

My marriages and children

water under all the bridges

while fingers touched across the table

until the time for her to go.

And as she kissed me on the cheek

she saw that look upon my face

and put her fingers to my lips

to quiet words I ought not say

whispered in my ear “Be happy”

disappearing in the crush.

And when I lost her in the crowd

I knew what I had missed the most

I missed her boundless faith in me

that made me feel

when she was near

so much more than what I was.

That she could see

what I might be

even when I couldn’t.

Her boundless faith went with her

when we parted long ago

leaving me to doubt my choices

pondering the road I traveled

a moment from The Way We Were

with me as Hubbell Gardiner.

That night I played my saxophone

dreaming dreams that might have been

if I had been as brave and bold as she.

.

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