He said it was different
When we were
Younger.
He asked me
If I remembered
When everybody
Used to hang out
With everybody,
No questions asked.
He used words like:
specialized
And
compartmentalized.
I didn't have the heart
To tell him
It had nothing
To do with
His words.
I didn't have the heart
To tell him
It was all just
Another cruelly
Efficient
Weeding out
Process
Life gives us,
And time
Was just
The medium
For the world's logic
To play in:
Simple Darwinian logic
Was constantly
Being exorcized
In this desert.
I didn't have the heart
To tell him
That this was always
How it was,
Even when we
Were young,
We just get
more oblivious to the game
As we get older.
I didn't have the heart
To tell him
There really was
No romance
To any of his memories...
I just didn't have the heart
To
State the obvious
Any longer,
At least not over
The phone,
So I listened
And told him
Instead
That perhaps
I would see him
For lunch
Sometime
In the next
Couple days.
Los Angeles - 4/1/06
