No-Show*

I waited for you
Drinking coffee
Cup after cup
Until it was obvious
You were not coming.

The walk to the car
Felt far longer
Than it really was.

I sat a few minutes
Before turning the key.
Passersby seemed gloomy
Although I was certain
I was transposing my melancholy
Onto them.

The radio was playing a happy song
Seeming to taunt me.
I turned the radio off
And drove home silently.

You owe me nothing.
No explanation.
No apology.
No rescheduling.
Nothing.

Not much of value
Ever begins in coffee shops.


* The only real coffee shop date I ever had was actually very pleasant and animated, and many years in the past. Writing verse is odd. Sometimes the work that is produced is surprisingly different from actual experience.