That's the Way These Things Go

That’s The Way These Things Go by Edmund Siejka I was in a bar By myself In one of those places that I hadn’t been to in awhile And yet still recognized By the turn of a chin Or an occasional nod. The place was busy The music got louder When the bartender bought a round. It was standing room only But I spotted her in the crowd The same warm smile Even white teeth Brown hair bordering a face I must have kissed a hundred times. Someone once said to know someone does not take years It just takes seconds to realize That you belong together. Impulsively I called out to her True, I was angry when what we had slowly ended And yet After all this time Something inside of me needed To reach out and hold her again. We spoke Our talk was brief as brief can be Just a hello with some words Thrown in. She said, Too many things had happened So, she left for the West Coast Made a new life for herself And was flying back the next day. Holding my arm She kissed me Surprised, I stepped back Our eyes meeting For the shortest second And then I knew She was saying goodbye forever. Still I don’t know why I guess there was no real reason for it But my heart jumped to my throat When she walked away. Suddenly feeling alone I searched the crowd Drowning in the noise and empty voices Wondering why I came here.