On a Greyhound Bus
I met her in the Greyhound station
On a rainy New England day
From different sides of desperation
We were both trying to run away
I needed to make a fresh, new start
Where my troubled past was still unknown
She was dying from a failing heart
And from her hospital bed she had flown
"I am only nineteen, but won't see twenty
And don't want to die in a hospital bed
The things I haven't done are equal to plenty
And I'd like to live just a little instead"
We talked
We slept
Not a secret was kept
We laughed
We cried
There was nothing to hide
Through cities
Through towns
With corn fields all around
Over rivers
Over hills
Past landscapes with no thrills
She said she had never made love with a man
But knew that her heart couldn't take it
I told her we've made love while crossing this land
You don't have to have sex to make it
Before we finally reached the west coast
She smiled and told me good-bye
She said, "This trip, I'll remember the most"
And sometime that night she died
I got off the bus in the middle of nowhere
As they came to take her body away
I took with me a lock of her hair
And still have it with me today
Copyright © Joe Flach | Year Posted 2012
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