FRIDAY NIGHT, CORNER TABLE

Friday Night,  Corner Table

Friday night

Corner table

Candlelight,

Wine,

And you.

I'm so nervous

That I'll say something

Do something

Feel something

Wrong.

But 

Your eyes 

Shine over my face

Like sparkles on the ocean

Like a man on a mission.

Cheers, you say

And I nod,

Raise my glass,

Clink and let the champagne

Glide it's way down my thirsty throat.

Are you happy?

I'm caught off guard

And I blink and laugh a small laugh

As the bubbles tickle my nose

And I feel your fingers on my wrist.

The band starts,

The busboy takes the dishes away

All the while smiling

And staring at me in my sequins

And freshly curled hair.

You signal 

For more wine

Unless you want something more potent?

You query and I shake my head

No, thank you, I've had more than enough.

I turn my chair

Towards the stage

But you catch my arm

And turn me back to you

Not yet, you say, not just yet.

And we sit there

Watching one another

Wondering in low light

Swimming in questions

Drowning in song.

After three pieces, fast and slow

The maestro stops 

Holds up his hand and says

We have a special request

From the gentleman at the corner table.

He wants to know

If the girl of his dreams,

The lovely lady with the pretty curls,

The woman that's sitting there tonight,

Will be his wife?

And I gasp

And put my hand to my mouth

As you slip a ring onto my other. Will you?

You ask with your heart in your eyes. Will you be mine? 

But I am speechless.

This was going to be our last date

I had decided. I was tired of waiting.....

Our last date. I had been trying to find the words

But if you never read this poem, I guess

That's something that you'll never know.

©by Voo

Feb 17, 08

4:45 p.m. 

the song they were dancing to.....

I  See Your Face Before Me  by Johnny Hartman....................

SONG OF THE ANGUISHED

Song of The Anguished




I was dreaming under water
With delusion all around
While the bones of dying blackbirds
Cried their last and hit the ground.

I was thinking of my true love
Whom I've yet to meet and touch
I was running toward a yearning
That my heart still loves so much.

On the hill there stood a gallows
With a noose tied just below
So the hanged man died there quickly
Before he had the time to know.

If the pain of death was hurtful
Or if he died from just his fear
It was quick and it was awful
And it left it's terror here.

Running from my waking nightmare
Running to my future fate
I was thirsty, I was hungry
But my life's an empty plate.

Tantalizing with her fragrance
Seduction was her favorite game
As she wound herself around me
Said I'd never be the same.

And that's true, I was a new man
And it's true, I was reborn
In her passion and her beauty
That soon shredded me with scorn.

The things I've done, I cannot tell you
The things I did, I hate to think
As I followed her to quicksand
As she stood and watched me sink.

Love is like a burning ember
Love is like a dying coal
Fires of joy and Eden's promise
Before the flames burn up your soul.

I have walked the ancient desert
I have climbed the mountain tall
I was young and strong and worthy
Before the stumble and the fall.

There, a hero to my mother
Then, a friend to my best friend
And a brother to my brother
Till the dark and bitter end.

Oh, sweet heaven, rain upon me!
Oh, sad sun, shine on my face!
Hangman of Hell, open this lock now!
Let me leave this cursed place!

I will run the roads forever
Show the blind man how to see
Teach the deaf and dumb and foolish
Not to ever follow me.

If you wake me from this nightmare
If you calm my screaming eyes
If you hush the dying ravens
So I cannot hear their cries.

I will seek out newer pathways
Leave the old ones far behind
If you re-turn my life to me
If you'll give me back my mind.

Yes, I'll sign your bloody papers
Yes, I'll stop my sad refrain
Yes, I'll do what you ask of me
No, no more will I complain.

Ah, much better, so much better
Peaceful now, it is so quiet
I can barely see the gallows
All I see is tinted light.

Breathing now, I take a deep one
But I cannot then exhale
I breathe in such warmth and sweetness
But cold is all I can expel.

Dreaming deep beneath the water
And the nightmare of this place
I make my last deal with the Hangman
For one more glimpse of her face.

©by Voo
Sept 30, 2012
9:45 p.m.