Gone

     days on end, then weeks

     a white car would pass

     I’d look, wanting to see

     my friend, it should have been you

     once you were walking far off

     just rounding a corner

     not at all like a dead man

     for months in a new city

     there was one almost like you 

     in line at the bank

     registering for classes

     laughing with friends at a bar

     there’s more than one dream

     remember this dream?

     I demand an address or phone number

     you shake your head practically

     this is it, you say

     you can’t come see me

     as if to a child who must be made to see

 

     it isn’t now what it was then

     I don’t search these crowds for your one and only face

     my friend

     if you come looking for me now

     you won’t know me

     I’m twice as old as we ever imagined we’d be