New Hope

He carried life’s bruises on a battered heart

He’d given up on every new and different start

He walked alone and claimed it was by choice

Fallibility showed only in the catch in his voice

She was slinging hash at the truck stop café

Necessity demanded when her man ran away

She needed proximate work to raise her small kids

No room for hopes and dreams in all of this

He sat close to the door, his back to the wall

Another transient at a brief port of call

He barely looked up when the waitress drew near

Her request for his order spoken soft but clear

When he raised his eyes, he got lost in hers

Both caught their breath, flooded with nerves

Uncertainty made for a slow, rocky start

But each held the key to the other’s aching heart

They had both given up on finding love again

Both had built walls to protect themselves from pain

But they saw vulnerability in the other’s mien

New hope flared and sang the past a soft requiem