At the Airport
Promises made in the dark heat of the night before
Are not practical matters in the morning rush to the airport
We were stalled in traffic on the expressway
My London born angel made it to the boarding gate
With only a few precious minutes to spare
No time for a romantic, lengthy au revoir
A purposeful and steady pace propelled her through the gate
No hesitation, never once looking back
The engaging British woman, ten years my senior
Seemed to evaporate into thin air
My love was taking off on a twelve-hour flight across the Atlantic
I could no longer avoid that heavy sinking feeling
A significant part of me was ripped from my being
Within a few months, she easily found a reason to cut me off
My plans to return to Europe hit a snag
I was facing a fork in my road
Her estranged wealthy parents died in a car crash
While on holiday in Australia
She left Holland, returning to a vast fortune
Then remarried the first, of her four husbands
I knew at the airport, the end result of any long distant romance
But banished this knowledge from body and mind
That last night together at the motor inn
We lie, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, in silence
No need of words, they were barriers
She and I held hands and slipped off to dreamland
We had arrived at elation, one flesh, one being
As close as we ever could be in every way imaginable
The climax of our seven beautiful months together
Gone with the wind upon the break of day
Never to return, except in memory
And some faded photographs
To remind me of the time
When friction and vibration were at peace