Through the Line

Glass walls press
In the telephone booth
Your voice through the line
Here I stand
Listening quietly
Nodding to no one
As you tell me a fortune
I could not have foreseen

People pass
On the street beside
They turn to look at me
Walking by
With cheeks that are stained
Black and blue, you see
Quietly mourning your
Absence in the cause

You heard my heart
Beat through the rubber wire
Still you did not recede
On your epiphany
That you and I
We were meant to be
But not meant to last, you said
You could hardly explain

Where have you fled?
Where will you build this new life?
That bears you away from me
Deep in Missouri
But maybe it's misery
Then I hear a voice
That calls through the other side
Your name on her tongue is sweet

I picture how our lives will be
As glass walls press tight
I can barely breathe
Before you hang up and go
You say that it's right for me
That I will be better free
But it never occurred to you,
To leave before loving her