every day I see you sitting on that same wall
I always have
it was there that I noticed you
the first time
playing your silly ukulele
you were good at it
and charming in a goofy way
and I passed by
I didn't ever stop
you didn't know me
and I didn't know you
and we went right on not knowing each other
how is it then
that we are here
a round three years later
and you still sit on your wall
with your ukulele and your charm
and I still pass you by
without stopping
but now it is not because I am too shy
or that I don't know you well enough
it is because too much has happened
for us to talk anymore
how is it now,
boy with the ukulele
that our fingers found each other under the blankets
that night
and that we shared that un-breaking eye contact
that drew our faces closer to each other
how is it
that after so much noticing
and wishing
and so many useless tears dangling from my eyelashes
so many hopeless poems
I finally won
and while you held me in your arms
I thought back
to when you sat on that wall
playing Tip Toe Through the Tulips
or
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
or
All My Lovin'
and I guess that you weren't quite as indifferent
as you appeared
as you sat on that wall
because after all all those battles
and denials
and angry hanging ups of the phone
I did win
if only for a night
or two
but then of course
you went and hid again
hid inside your own head
under all that curly hair
and pretended that I didn't exist
again
and again we don't talk
as I walk past you
on your wall
and you try hard not to look at me
and I try hard to look like I don't care
but
boy with the ukulele
never forget
I did win
once