---

You told me, just when the bell rang after lunch

“I can’t find a date for the Valentine’s Day social dance.”

It was the first week of January and it didn’t occur to me to tell you

That maybe you were giving up a little early

 

I wrote you a note on a piece of yellow paper

And spent a long time folding it to make sure it was perfect

It was the second week of January and only this had occurred to me:

“How about a friend date?”

 

Three years and I’ve learned this much about you:

You always do things the hard way

If I could have seen above the place I’d set you in my mind

Well, I couldn’t have.  Not with my eyes

 

You told me, just before we went through the doors

“I don’t want to go stag together.  I want to go together.”

You dragged me out in front of everyone and made me dance

And when your favorite song played, you grabbed my waist

 

And I wished, that night, that you would never go away

Never graduate, never go to college, never meet him

Never get married.  Never have a beautiful son

With his mother’s perfect chin and his Daddy’s eyes