The Last Goodbye

(sequel to Rainy Day Monday)

                It has now been three long years
                and I've found she's going to be wed.
                She has chosen her "Mr. Right"
                rather than yours truly, instead.
                I guess that she loves him more.
                After all, it's quite obvious, isn't it?
                Because it is he whom she is marrying
                and it's something I hate to admit.

                I've done a lot of things in three years
                and I've gotten around quite a bit.
                But things had never seemed the same
                since that day she and I split.
                How long can one's lonely life last?
                But then again, who am I to say?
                I take life as it is given to me.
                I just live it from day to day.

                When I first saw her a year ago
                in that pub on the far side of town.
                I didn't want her to know she was seen
                as she slipped out the door without sound.
                I wonder if she told her boyfriend
                why she stood up and walked from their table.
                Was there something that she couldn't tell him?
                Was it simply that she wasn't able?

                I wasn't sure if she had felt guilty
                or maybe the heat from our old fire.
                I would never ask her such questions,
                wouldn't want her to become a liar.

                It was last summer I saw her again.
                Well, I should say that she saw me first.
                She walked up and said, "Hello stranger."
                She was water for my old thirst.
                She asked me what I'd been up to
                and I told her of my plans and goals.
                She told me "what she was doing lately".
                I pretended that I did not know.

                I had some how felt different inside.
                Something did not seem the same.
                It was then that I finally realized
                that something had extinguished the flame.

                When it came time for her to leave
                eternity passed for that short while.
                I wished her luck and all of my best
                and I managed to give her a smile.
                As she finally left she gave me a kiss
                and I did hate to see her go.
                But it was in that kiss that I felt that word.
                She was saying goodbye instead of hello.

                                                9/80