Every day he’s waits outside the post office in town
If anybody speaks he just greets them with a frown
Looks as though he’s waiting for someone who never shows
He waits there all day until the evening then goes.

One day I got the courage to ask if he’s ok
He just looked right through me until I turned away
Then I heard him speak quietly as I made to leave
He reached out and stopped me by grabbing at my sleeve

He asked me if I’d seen her, he says she’s very late
That he’d arranged to meet her here, so he has to wait
She said she’d be here for him but she’s never there
He begs me to tell her, to make sure she aware

I said I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are waiting for
There’s no-one else I’ve seen, hanging around this store
Are you sure it’s here your meeting, is this the place to go
Who is it your waiting for, is it someone that I know?

He pulled out a sepia photo, the sort our grandpa had
But it looked like it was older, like when grandpa was a lad
You could see that she was lovely, thought the print was faded and torn
One thing was certain, she would have been old before I was born

I realised his clothes were from a bygone age
When cravats and cummerbunds would have been all the rage
He was dressed to go a-courting in a century or more now gone
Somehow lost in time, he waited, to a return to “when” he was from

I promised I would wait, he said. Forever if I must
A promise I must not break, I owe her love and trust
So walk on by, my friend, and wish me well if you can
So I left him that day, a lonely but determined man

And as the years went by, the post office became a store
Then a private house, then a couple of flats or more
But always I would tip my hat at the man waiting there still
And I would marvel at the love that could inspire such strength of will

Then one day he was missing, I stopped and looked around
I realised he was gone and was nowhere to be found
Perhaps I wondered if time had claimed him and returned him to his own
I prayed he was safe and well, I felt somehow left alone

That night I heard a voice calling out as I slept
My friend he said, my promise has been kept
All these years of waiting, finally I am free
my love, my love, has finally come to be with me

In my sleep I smiled, for even old men like me can care
The sepia lady in a photograph now was real and standing there
Then they waved goodbye and left me, back to their own time and place
And I woke up this morning with a smile upon my face

Copyright Tallisman 2022