A Very Fine Line ~ The Restaurant Poem by Christine A Kysely

A Very Fine Line ~ The Restaurant

Rating: 5.0


I just walked past the restaurant
A terrific place I used to go
Early in the evening hours
Of a chilly and recent past night
The fullness of the moon cast a memory
Reminders of my having traveled to these places so often
Beneath its comfortable glow.

Places like this I used to dine
In what seems like so many moons ago
Could it have really just have been
Only seemingly late last year?

As I hesitated for a moment
I saw “Me” walking in
Tall and dressed entirely in black
Late as usual, but not distressed
Dressed to the nines
Really looking fine
I had considered myself
Worth waiting for.

And then I realized I was outside a window
On the outside looking in
I am on the outside looking in
Of a place where I might or could have been
Tonight or any other evening
And I had been here oh so recently
Only a very short year ago.

Today the price of entry to this place
Is way beyond my meager means.
I recollected that being seen here
Had been so important to me
Now it is the last thought I hold dear.
The idiotic and superficial ideals
Of someone who had no financial worries
Never a thought of survival
Had ever had ever pierced the comfort of my mind.

Someone whose then perfectly mirrored reflection
Now bears no resemblance to mine.
I saw the fancy tables
Of where I used to dine
With only the finest crystal
That held the finest wines.

I saw where I had been seated
Only late last year
The table where I had dined with friends
And shared some holiday cheer.

I saw romantic candles
Flickering and burning bright
I saw tables surrounded with beaming faces
Flushed and filled with anticipatory delight.
Anticipation of the wondrous delicacies
They would all soon have and behold.

I saw the sommelier pouring wine
Bottles and endless bottles
Of all the nectars considered to be in vogue
Every one of their prices
Deemed them to taste like liquid gold.

All drinks designed to compliment
The amazing and stylish cuisines
Posh dinners were arriving quickly
Looking as though from magazines
Arranged and prepared with minute details
Every element carefully appointed
Nothing ever missing, nothing out of place
Happiness was everywhere.
Joy radiated from every face.

And as the November wind
Begins to blow
I turned my head to go
To walk toward my empty street
My scarf wrapped tightly against the night.
Striding ever more quickly
Trying to beat the wind and cold
I had some thoughts and revelations
Come to me
About that what I had just seen.

About the poor
About the needy
About those who are in pain
About those who live with everything
And those who live without.

About those who have never been waited upon
Never in their whole lives
And about those who dine within those walls
Whose thoughts have never even considered
What it would ever be like
To be on the outside looking in.

Now it is I
I who had been on the inside
I who am now on the outside.
It is I.
I who now know for certain
That it is such a very thin line
Between being poor and living fine.

And now I have to wonder
If being there had been some sort of sin
And now that is now the reason
I am on the outside
On the outside looking in
To The Restaurant.

(November 15,2010 Wausau, Wisconsin USA)

(c) Copyright 2010 by Christine A Kysely, All Rights Reserved

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Christine A Kysely

Christine A Kysely

Merrill, Wisconsin USA
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