Chet Baker Sings

I put on the old record today.
The notes seemed oddly foreign now.

There is no dancing like the night
We first locked eyes and gave the slightest
Cock-eyed grin.
You told me your name, which I almost missed
Being so enthralled by the lines
That form on your cheeks when you smile.

There is no candle burning bright.
Like the time I cooked you dinner.
Your favorite. You didn’t think I had remembered
When you told me our first date,
But I had hung on your every word.
And as we danced in candle light with that same old record on
I saw the tears form in your eyes while smiling you kissed me.
I had never thought a couple months could feel like decades
Wandering the landscape of all that you were.

There is no static.
Like the night you called me when I was away on work.
I could not see you, but I knew all the same
Those lines on your cheeks were nowhere near.
I heard a breaking in your voice
The sky of Eden split in two and in the schism there was only
Darkness that no candlelight could hope to pierce.
And in the darkness we both sat
As I a refugee no longer knew where home was
Or if I would ever see it again.

There are only the notes now,
With nothing in between them.
No glue to hold the melody in places where it once had meaning.
There is only this old song
That stands alone, a hollow oak
And maybe that is all we were
An empty, beautiful thing.

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