A City We Might Have Known

We were never there.

Together.

We were never the couple in the park, tree-lined against skylines...cement gray against tea-leave green.  We were never the couple in the crush.  The crush of bystanders, the crush of cabs...the crush of cars carrying them to and fro...and for us to simply be just a simple pair.

We were never there....we didn't see a show, we didn't collect the cards from the comedians in Times Square to get discounts on late night venues...we didn't feel the swell of the tourists and buses and neon.

We weren't in the quiet of a neighborhood...maybe 2nd avenue...off the beaten path...a quiet Italian restaurant...some uncorked wine...a kiss in the middle of a meal and a stare to return to if perhaps only in minutes.

We never were at the rooftop lounge, drinks in hand, shadows and a cool evening requiring proximity...pointing to a planet, debating if a star, wondering if we were closer to some Heaven on the terrace or if that was found much later side by side in a bed...we never whispered against the backdrop of sirens and sounds...outside air and noises impacting our breathing that was inside and oh so close...

We never ordered room service...we never debated menus, or mixes, or mini-bars.  We never stopped in a crowd on 7th and felt the surge of those on the sidewalk and stopped and realized the stark contrast of you...the earthen eyes against urban dyes...the soft and pale parts of you against a cement gray line of building...the human part of you against the backdrop of machines and maintenance...I never got to hold you in a city of millions and allow me to describe you as a soul.  I never got to...I never got to...

I never got to confess to you, in the hours and the minutes...in the times and the moments...in the pieces and deflections that when it came to what really mattered was that it was you that really mattered...
you that distracted...you that impacted...you were reflected, billions of times in mirrors and the way the sun split off buildings and cascaded in colors and in a city of grays and whites and blacks you were the color of earth because of your eyes...a piercing, deepening piece of spring in a city of winters....eyes the color of bourbon....eyes the colors of trees so far off in the distance they may have been stars.

In a city that didn't care...in a place that didn't notice...when the millions were beside us, with their own foibles and troubles, dreams and remembrances....they kept on walking past.  But I held you, or at least wanted to, in that row of people and passers-by.

We were the moment....we were the eclipse.  We were the twosome.  We were the union.  We were all that mattered.  We were the laughter in the hallway, we wakened people with our noise...we caused smiles because those passing us were immediately jealous of the way you looked at me...and I could not take my eyes off of you.

We were never there.

But in the city...each time....as I return, it almost feels like we were.