Daniel Romo

Lines that Stuck Out After Watching The Notebook for the First Time at 49
or
Things I say to Myself 6 Months from When I Turn 50?

If you’re a bird, I’m a bird. 
            I’m not a carpenter.
            But I’m an expert craftsman at building up 
            sky-high expectations:
                        flailing, wishful,
            unfulfilled.

I want all of you, forever, everyday. 
You and me… everyday.
            We thought we’d have accomplished more 
            by now—I whisper to myself in plural.

It was an improbable romance. 
He was a country boy. 
She was from the city.
            The capitol and name of my current state 
            are both named “Loss.”

There are no monuments dedicated to me 
and my name will soon be forgotten. 
            I wonder if my wife was truly able to hear the echoes in
            the caverns of my void when I told her
            I understand why men my age undergo mid-life crises.

This is my home now.
            A door opens. Two close. 
            Where are all the houses that are 
            on the market?

You are and always have been, my dream.
            If I close my eyes tight enough, I feel the 
           breeze from the latest decade of my life 
            passing me by as if salute followed by 
            sendoff.

It was real, wasn't it? You and me. 
Such a long time ago, we were just a couple of kids. 
But we really loved each other, didn't we?
            Why did it take me so many years to realize
            we are not the men we used to be?

            I just pray that I mattered.
Science goes only so far and then comes God.