300

I knew him in the bar for years,
every few Saturdays and he was always there
when I came and when I left. At first I wouldn't tell him
about my life and my wife and everything
that happened upstairs, in the light
until nothing seemed as real as him and the bar.

When I was older I stopped speaking so much
and enjoyed his enjoying my company.
Never asking him where he lived
and never did he leave before I did.

Ten years of the man in the bar, and one day
I saw him at the park
sitting by the big fountain with a can of Coke
and when he saw me watching him he agreed to look away.

Saturday night at the bar I sat
and told him what my wife said.