The Rendezvous

It was raining that night
How I remember the rain
Like tears on the broken
Wheat fields of our youth.

The rain was my witness
Counting the time with
Each beat, like a clock
Ticking away.

It saw what I could never say
It kept my secret, that sky
And the storm alone remembers
The pain of being… alone

But tonight was different
A figure stepped out
Hidden in the Quarter’s mist,
Pale as the moon over the river.

The shadow wore your shape,
But not your eyes,
Nor your warmth,
And not your soul

His eyes caught the gas lamps,
Burning with an old hunger,
Suddenly the rain hushed
As if even it was listening

I looked down at my old hand
The lines of time etched in
The ring you gave me on my finger
And I knew the waiting was done.