I know

To The Lady on the Train,

My thoughts are with you as always.

Only a heart that loves is one that can break, and it's love that lasts forever.
 
We measure the passage of time in love and not in the heartache.

The Man in the Station

 

Gifts

To The Lady on the Train,

There is a drift of sweet wood smoke from a stove and a warm kitchen scent of baked apples. 

There too is gathered bunches of drying lavender and maple sap boiling down to an earthy syrup. 

These gifts from nature all fill me. 

But none as sweetly and completely as your kiss. 

The Man in the Station

Against the Wind

To The Lady on the Train,

Today I will run further than I ever have so far. I will pound my feet into asphalt to cover a time and distance that a year ago would have been impossible for me. My knees will ache, my lungs will burn and I will want to stop. 

I am no longer a young man. I do not have the body that you once knew. Gravity and time are winning this fight. But I am not rolling over and lying down. 

I will continue to prop up the scaffolding of my bones. I will squeeze out what strength remains in my diminishing muscles. And I will continue to look out through my eyes behind this ever wrinkling and sagging face. 

I am still here but I fear that what you see is falling down of this body; the weight, the wrinkles, the sag of my cheeks, and the grey beard of an old man. Youth is wasted on the young. 

I will run and I will push to find my limits. I will not go out without a fight. And I will hope that sometimes you might be able to catch a glimpse of the man that I once was. I’m still here. 

The Man in the Station 

Happy Birthday

To The Lady on the Train,

I wish that I had the words to express all that I want to say but they would utterly fail. So I will simply say this:

Happy Birthday to the most amazing person I know. You are loved.

The Man in the Station

All the Light from all the Stars

To The Lady on the Train,

Even if we were standing under a kaleidoscope canopy of stars, I would see only you. 

Should I be able to gather all their light in the palms of my hands, still they would not outshine your eyes.

All the light from all the stars cannot compare to you.

The Man in the Station

Scent of a Woman

To The Lady on the Train,

How to describe all the complex and conflicting emotions that one can experience all at once is a problem for which I do not have the language. So I will tell you as simply as I can, and you will have to imagine the parts where I fail.

I do look for you in every crowd even though I know that you could not possibly be there. I look for you in every woman I see. Can I find the line of your jaw from your small ears to your chin? Do the straight back and sway of hips resemble you? Can I see your sharp shoulders and swing of your arm and your slender fingers somewhere among the people around me?  

This morning I was taken completely by surprise and almost overwhelmed when a woman stood beside me on the subway.  Curls, a partially tamed riot, pulled back and tumbling; a downturned gaze into a book and not knowing that she has an affect just by being there. But what almost brought me to my knees was the drifting scent, unmistakable - Essential oil blend #6. And suddenly I could almost imagine that you were standing beside me. And I could feel the gaping emptiness of this stranger not being you. 

I wish that I could tell you every thought and emotion that crashed through me. And all because a woman with curly hair and a perfume stood beside me. I can't though. I do not have the language; no such words exist. But some of what came flooding were times when we walked beside each other, when I held your hand as we drove, hearing your voice in my ear as we sat in a theatre, and the feel of your limbs along my own. 

And I remember the way that scent would completely fill me, bring me to my knees, and lift me to the heavens. 

The Man in the Station

Full of Stars

To The Lady on the Train, 

The constellations of freckles on your skin are just the first hint that you hold a universe within. Looking in your eyes, one knows that you are full of stars. 

The Man in the Station