A New York Minute Poem by Bill Upton

Lost
Smack in the middle of Manhattan
Between hotel and cab,
Waiting for the final curtain to fall,
Then off to the airport of farewells
To carry home mystical mid-town dreams
Of unbridled passion and joy
Laced between romantic mischief and freedom.
Windows of unrelenting opportunities
Had been exposed for a 48 hour voyage into wonderland.
Paradise Lost had finally caught Paradise Found
In a magic symphony never before played.
Surreal visions glided past Rockefeller Center skaters
And lit up every single light in Times Square.
The horses' eyes from their Central Park carriage
Turned around to look at lovebird eyes as though they knew.
Wedding crasher, Plaza Hotel ballroom dancing
Shared the speed of the city
With the quickening pulse of a relationship about to blossom
Into a rose.
Crazy laughter and happiness shouted at the full New York City midnight moon
And walked together, hand in hand, through the diamond, star-studded eternity of wonder.
So unfair to count goodbye minutes in real time.
So wrong to watch helplessly as my cab sped away,
Leaving behind the stardust memories,
Knowing the scales had fallen off blind eyes
To realize there would not again be such a time...
And that life would never be quite the same.