By Tricia Thomas
Date: 7 November 1999

And so we cried

It seems we’re always chasing planes
from one remote city to another,
connecting routinely 
by voicemail, email, 
and hastily scribbled faxes.
Today was different, though.
I felt a longing in your goodbye kiss,
a yearning for the tenderness, 
for intimate conversation,
for permanence, for touching, 
with our bodies and our hearts.

You breathed a wistful sigh 
for what was once the real thing,
the familiar connection 
between a proud husband 
and his starry-eyed bride,
building a marriage, a family, 
and a future together.

And though we tried, 
there were planes to catch,
and our schedules were full.
For all of our best laid plans,
there wasn’t time to give
what it would have taken to salvage 
what had once been so precious.
We didn’t have time 
to rewind the tape
back to the beginning 
of our story
when hopes ran high
and the future seemed boundless,
before faxes, voicemail, 
and let’s do lunch...
and so we cried.