Three Music Men

1.The Enigma
 
I sat in the back row.
I know you I saw me-- you looked up
when I walked in .
 
Do you not know what to make of me, or
fear an unrepairable fissure  
in your solitude, might happen
if you'd said more than
a nanosecond, humor-me, "Hi"
as you turned away after the show?
 
If you weren't so drippingly handsome
I would've turned away, too, and
admitted that you're all about the music  
and nothing more.
 
 
2. The Friend
 
I saw the younger man  
trying to break free  
from behind the wrinkles around your
ice blue eyes, and
in your labored gait.
 
Funny, how the hands
reveal our true age, in  
the prominence of bones, and
the little blue veins, that wind  
and twist through thinning tissue.
 
It was a pleasure to meet you in person, and
thank you for making the walk
up to the back row
to introduce yourself.
 
 
3. The Soulmate
 
I know you were at your own funeral.
I didn't then, but I do, now.
 
You stood in your own reception line, telling
each person, something about them
that you felt, as you greeted each one.
 
You said I was your one and only, and
I knew then that just our bodies die
and not the rest.
 
And I knew then, that sometimes
a dream is a message in its realness.
 
And I know that you meant what you said, and
I'll see you again, no matter  
how much sobbing and blubbering  
I did, driving home  
across the Tappan Zee Bridge .

I can now answer "Yes"
when someday, I go where you are, and
God asks me if I learned how to love.