You Spend Always For Company Poem by RIC BASTASA

it is always the case

this money that you spend to lavish your friends
with anything that you can think of just to keep
company alive: a buffet yesterday
a dinner by the beach

pizza at the yellow cab
and some home made ice cream and some light beer
some like it better with tomato cream soup
and others ask for a can of coke
one orders a bottle of mineral water

and then a nice conversation is shared
some stories pass from one mouth to another
about a friend whose life is messy
about a wife who can no longer endure an unhappy marriage
with a violent husband to boot
making her a punching bag and the latest decision
to petition for an annulment of marriage

some discover about a two friends finally having a gay affair
and the talks become so intriguing
you listen, the hours pass, the nights get darker, the music gets louder
you just listen, you look at each face facing you
without any significance
your mind travels far away from them

you get a scoop of vanilla ice cream
and they ask about you

and you tell them that the ice cream is so good.
it is not so sweet. just enough to tickle your tongue.

then one gets so sleepy, yawns and you say that it is such a
very romantic night.

you foot the bill. everyone is happy with you.
a pleasant company.
good night, they say, and again you are left alone

walking at dawn, and then the lights are slowly turned off.
the beach gets so white, with the coming of the morning sun.

some shadows start to vanish. another set of walkers
and blank faces and you say: the night is over.

good morning boracay!