Walking back to my car <br />in a small lot near the post office, <br />I notice the building where Paul used to live <br />years ago as a young bachelor — <br /> <br />remember how I didn't knock one time <br />because I saw him through the glass <br />making out with someone on the couch. <br />Of course that was before his <br />marriage and rough divorce, before <br />his two grown kids were even born. <br /> <br />As I walk toward the building and the car, <br />Paul might still be in there <br />as a young man making out — or he might not. <br />The building will forever be <br />a landmark in my world, <br />arising from the blankfaced ones <br />nearby, calling my name. <br /> <br />Once something's happened <br />to make a place significant, <br />significance remains. <br />I walk across the span of decades <br />to my car and drive away <br /> <br />as around us, galaxies <br />a thousands times the size of ours <br />whirl in cold, dark space: <br /> <br />here alone is all we've known, <br />the warm hearth-fires of <br />this Earth that we call home.<br /><br />Max Reif<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-bridge-over-time-and-space/
