Her life was born of Paris, an ocean away,
Mine story began of New York, a world apart,

Our meandering journeys converge in the darkness of this nondescript bar
Deemed to have been worthy, life has drawn us here to reinforce a lesson
As our minds touch, we revel in each others humanity
We share our words, a smile and a bits of our soul,

The din of the Saturday night all around us
Threatens to drown us in meaningless noise
We trade the regrets and the deep revelations
Gleaned on our passage throughout this world

What’s the lesson we take from this briefest encounter?
That if our hearts remain open they will always prevail,
They will tear down walls and pull back the curtains.
But may reveal a truth we would prefer not to claim.

That in spite of all our mindless connections
Our pride in collections of thousands of friends
These names on a list, provide us no comfort.
With our aloneness as humans we must always contend.

She held her friend close, as the life slipped away
Exchanged in return for easing this passage
Came the certain understanding there’s no promise of tomorrow
That there’s always more time is a fallacy,
This moment is all we have

Her quiet voice, bathed in a soft French accent explains
A lesson learned at such a cost cannot be squandered
She answered the call and traded elegant heels, the bright streets of Paris
For hiking boots, a log cabin and a chance at love in the mountains

Marveling at the courage that we’ve both found
We celebrate our good fortune
To have not run out of time before finding our truth.
Saying goodbye we pass back into the night to continue the journey.