In Passing

“Hi, old friend,” I said in passing.
“How are you?” I started asking.
“Must be now three years or so since I saw your face, you know.

“We really should have kept in touch.
I’ve thought about you very much.
Wond’ring how you’re doing now - hoping we would meet somehow.

“What times we had back in the day
Away at school in Santa Fe:
Stealing Susie Stevens pants; spiked the punch at the school dance.

“Why I recall a time back when
We skipped our morning class and then
Smoked a pack of Marlboro outside in the freezing snow.

“We really were the best of friends,
For such lost time let’s make amends.
Would you care to grab a beer at that beat-up bar that’s near?”

He looked at me with icy glare
That made me think my mind did err.
Then I saw his bony fist - blackness meant he had not missed.

I came to on the ground upset
Uncertain why his fist had met
Angrily above my chin. Then I knew to my chagrin.

How queer, I thought, that I’d forgot.
Of course I know why he’s so hot:
Three years past our paths did end when I slept with his girlfriend.