The Old Man Said

“Have you ever been in love my friend?”
The old man then asked me again
Said, “yes but I left it way back then
For all I ever found was pain”

There was a time that I’d once known
But it passed and left me alone
Love, I thought, would forever be mine
Now stands still and as dry as a stone

“I feel your pain,” the old man said
“And all those tears that you have shed
Lord knows I was in love once too
All those times I will never forget”

Standing in the dark with the old man there
I could see how he could no longer bear
Looking at her picture with two lost eyes
I had to turn away to hide a lonely tear

Then the old man said, “It’s time for me to go
If you ever come back be sure to say hello
I am so much in love, what she couldn’t see
And there’s just no place that I’d rather be”

It’s been so long and I never saw him again
The time moved on and now I am an old man
And I’ll be gone too from this world full of pain
Oh, if I could only kiss her once in the rain.

Gautam Dhar
1 August 2003
Lansing MI

This eventually became the title of my First Book