
.
One day in Rome
Sitting on a couch
In a room
A group of about twelve
Italians and Americans and English
And when our eyes locked
It was like staring directly at the messiah
As all the disciples faded into the white of your light
Providing a frame to a masterpiece that entrapped my eyes
And promised me salvation
.
You were my savior
If only for one night
Maybe even a single moment on the couch
Reminding me that my heart could feel like breaking
That magic was real
And reality was magic
.
After touring with a show
That took us to seven countries
And uncountable cities
I was weary and desperate for rest
I found my home in your eyes
And I didn’t want to leave it
.
You didn’t speak much English
And my Italian was limited to
“Que belle culo”
Which would either get me a smile
Or slapped
But our eyes and smiles and glow
Spoke a language that needed no translation
Leaving me so full
That I was ready to renunciate from speech altogether
.
I indicated in charades for you to meet me outside
And I left the room
Praying that there was a God and he heard my prayer
Which was not for riches
Or power
Or eternal life
But for you to walk through that door
And be with me
Free from background noise
So I could hear the angels singing through your presence
…And you did
And I was no longer an atheist
.
We smiled and without hesitation kissed
No thought or planning or map or radar needed to bring our lips together
Your body sandwiched between a blank white wall
And the rainbow of colors
That were emitting from my heart
.
You melted into me
And I had to open my eyes to make sure that I was not alone
That I wasn’t onstage or in a bus to somewhere new
Always in a moving play
Wishing I could be motionless in reality
Constantly surrounded with cast and crew and a paying audience
Longing to be alone playing serious with you
To my delight…and awe
You were still there
As my heartstrings played their sonata
To an audience of one
.
I was ready to confess all the darkness inside of me
For there was nothing I wanted to keep to myself
Everything that was mine was yours
And so I told you how I was dating a girl in the cast
And saw your expression drop
As if you had just drunk
A cup of poison from my hands
And once again two star-crossed lovers
Were prevented from crossing those stars
.
We went back into the room
And now you smiled politely
But the spark behind the eyes had burnt out
And only a faint puff of smoke remained
You looked at me through cloudy eyes
From what only moments before were clear enough to see to your soul
.
Suddenly the background noise
Became the foreground
And the room started spinning
And I wanted to escape from this nightmare
And go back to the dream in the hallway
Where there was peace in the stillness of your embrace
And never wake up again
And as suddenly as you appeared in my life
Your were gone
.
The tour bus took us to the next city
Away from Rome
Away from you
To perform—
always acting and never just being me
like I was in the hallway
when I didn’t have to perform to impress
.
I wrote you countless letters and postcards
Telling you that you were all I could think of
And I was ready to drop all pretending
To step off the stage
And leave my character and costume in the dressing room
And take your hand as my Self
.
But my letters went unanswered
And days became weeks became months became years…became decades
My tour of duty was long over
And I was shipped back home
Leaving my foreign lover overseas
Wondering if there was a little magic growing inside of her belly
Waiting to be birthed into existence
Proof that I existed and our love was real
.
I’ve wondered how the years have been to you
If you’ve married
Had children
If you are happy
But endless Internet searches came up empty
And those questions remained unanswered
.
Another several years and I joined Facebook
And tried one last time
To locate the piece of my heart that I lost on the battlefield of my European Tour
.
I came across a picture of you
The face that I remember as smooth in perfection as a green-eyed china doll
Now lined from the years
A dog, two kids and two decades
And tears fell quietly from the same eyes that had gazed upon you in Rome
For I wished that I could have been there
And shared with you the time
That transformed your body
But left your soul’s beauty untouched
.
In the fiction of theater
Out of the ethers
Music is pulled into existence by instruments
And words are drawn off a dead page and projected from mouths resuscitated
And choreography is staged from a dance born in the mind’s ballroom
And relationships are formed and destroyed
As quickly as the stage is set up and broken down
.
In each city you come like a circus
And leave like a ghost town
There is music and monologues and motion
But just as quickly they disappear
There are ladies and love and lewdness
But only one Katia
.
And while she has disappeared
Like the last piece of scenery from the set
She has remained forever in my mind
Waiting for a chance to work her way down to my heart
To take her place in the seat on my inner couch
That I have kept vacant for her
All these years
Only this time I will not let her get away
Time can do what he will to our bodies
But he will not take her from me again