Noel

i'm sorry for this. hardly.
although i've wanted it for years
a friend from afar, now grown.
i've watched you and have heard
your words directed my way

admiring you from the distance
which was inappropriate for the time
during which i knew you.
young. too young. to tell you my song
the lyric, which would bind us

because i was not of your time,
or age.
you knew, as I, and told them so
without my acquiescence,
until tonight

we spoke before noticing, and ignoring
what we knew. words less than glances
looks more than memory
neither appeared to halt
the stare of our knowing

yesterday has dissolved
to where we are right now,
speaking of the moment
as it stands before our eyes
presented as truth. tonight.

which we have denied until now,
an aged bridge
now more common
as we speak beyond the realm
of the folly, and danger, of the past

age no longer defines us
welcomed in our own
distinct pasts, united
as a lead and a follower alike
akin to fondness and affection

you now speak
and i now listen
to the words we have been saying
which have brought us full-circle
to where we sit tonight

whispering, among our employers
the words we wanted
to simply say to each other
when the time was ripe
before this day arrived