Richard Schnap- A Poem

DIARY

On one side there was a restaurant
Where old men gathered in the afternoon
Waiting to see who’d leave next

Now it’s a gourmet coffeehouse
Where students crouch over laptops
As if consulting crystal balls

On the other side lived a woman
Who once gave me the key to her heart
Before somebody changed the lock

Now it’s home to a stranger
Who runs a financial services firm
And never learned how to say hello

And fate has placed me between them
The blank space after a chapter ends
Before the next one starts to begin

Watching from my second floor window
At a young girl gathering flowers
While the grey sky darkens with rain