Christmas Day

Where in the world did you come from my dear?

Did some mysterious voice tell you I'd still be here?

I bought this ticket to Mobile, but I been stranded all day

P.a. said the bus broke down ten miles away from the station.

So seldom a door, so seldom a key, so seldom a hit like the hurt you put on me.

But seldom comes happiness without the pain of the devil in the details

Since I saw the smile on your face

As I was crying in a Greyhound station on Christmas Day, in 1998.

The burden of love is the fuel of bad grammar.

You stutter and stammer--what a bitch to convey the crux of the matter,

When the words you must utter are hopelessly tangled

In the memories and scars you show no one.

So seldom...

I remember quite clearly, a bad Muzak version of James Taylor's big hit,

Called "Fire and Rain" was playing as you crouched down and tearfully kissed me,

And I thought, "Damn, what good fiction I will mold from this terrible pain."

So seldom...

Amazing grace, how sweet the smile upon the face I never thought I'd see you again

Especially here in this Greyhound station

On Christmas Day

In 1998.