In a Poe Tale

On Halloween evening I went to see a performance by Edgar Allan Poe. As I waited for him to emerge, I whipped out my pad and wrote the following...

In a Poe Tale

I saw the back of your silver head
From five rows back
I didn’t know you liked Edgar Allan Poe
I thought O. Henry was more your cup of tea
A person in the row in front of me asks to change seats
I gladly comply
He sits next to his wife
I get closer to you
I see the lint on your jacket
From four rows back
I want to pick it from your shoulders
I notice an empty seat in front of me
I step on a woman’s foot as I scoot into it
I get closer to you
I see a smudge on the corner of your eyeglasses
From three rows back
I want to wipe the print off for you
A mother leaves with her crying child
Her empty seat beckons me
I get closer to you
I hear you sneeze
From two rows back
I say, “God bless you”
And you turn around
“Thank you”
I smile
But it quickly fades
You ruined the moment
You’re not my father
After all
I knew you couldn’t be
He’s been dead five years now
But I pretended
For a brief moment
We were in a Poe tale…

Today would have been my father's 80th birthday...