stray dog

i heard your voice today

i almost fell off of my bar stool

 

the bar had a t.v. on a music video channel

i was staring at another empty beer

contemplating the already answered question

of will i order another

 

when your voice hit me like the sound waves

of a sonic blast

 

i looked up and it was you

on the screen

singing and playing keyboards

 

you said nothing of this

during our brief encounter

over a month ago

before i left you sitting on that stool

shaking the dust of the bar off my feet

 

we had been in a band

back when we were together

i had named us stray dog

i wrote lyrics to your music

and sang

you played all the instruments

as well as sang the songs

you wrote by yourself

 

we played the local scene

here in l. a.

till you went away

and opened my eyes

to the dark streets of decay

 

(yeah, that’s right, i’m enlightened)

 

i listened to the song

watched you

with the same enchantment i felt

as i lay beside you on the blanket

caressing your naked flesh

upon the rolling hills

 

the song was your own

the music was your own

the sound was your own

 

any evidence of me

was gone

 

i paid the tab

and headed for the hard concrete

lit a cigarette

watched which way the wind blew the smoke

i started walking the other way

 

a stray dog

on the dark streets of decay

 

***