The Old Couple

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There is a couple
Next to my girlfriend and I
Who really
Know one another

They sit in the train car
Seats facing one another
He with
A phone in his lap
And
Ear buds
Screwed into his hairy old ears
Her with
Her leather purse

He clutched her leg
Propped up
Adjacent to him
And dozes out of
reality

She lays back
Wrinkled mouth open
Head cocked towards the sky
Like a bird
Catching rainwater

They are past the days of
Nervous laughs
Honeymoon eyes
And
Sheepish sweeps of the
Gaze from across the
dinner table

He has
Already told her
Exactly what he thinks of his
In-laws
And she
Has finally admitted that it might
Be time for him to
Buy some new
Pants

They have learned how to
Be honest with one another
And yet
She still smiles
As her
Tired gaze contacts with him

There is a couple next
To my girlfriend and I
Who has seized life by the teeth
And hangs on by
It's skin

Ducking all the punches
That the world has
Thrown their
Way
In tandem

There was a economic turndown
They got through that
And 9/11
There are
Possibly a few wars
That they got through together
And now
They are sitting on this train

All the life they've
Lived so far
Summarized in how
His hand rests on
Her ankle
And rubs her mnemonically
As he shifts in
Half asleep
And
In the way her leg
Slides over
Automatically to
make room for him

They have lived
They have loved
They have fought and risen above
Every single obstacle that has ever
Came between
them

There is a couple
Next to my girlfriend and I
Who
Make us look like
strangers

And
When they arrive
At their stop
He gently squeezes her leg

They stand
And look over at
My girlfriend
then at me

And
Smile
A knowing
Smile

- j. altamore

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