After All the Toast and Tea

Dale Houstman

This is based on a dream I had about a failing couple vacationing in Europe.
……
After All the Toast and Tea

After all the toast and tea
by the sidewalks and the sea,
the breakfast dishes cleared,
the Talk commences.
You blather earnestly
about the world’s gaudy debris
As I cast my eyes about
these torn fences.

High noon is turning brown,
so I guess we’ll paint the town.
My friends all moved to Spain
and my gun’s not loaded.
The background’s mainly you
and now you’re on about your shoes.
I know you’re saying something
but it’s coded.

By one,
I am dissolving.
By two,
I’ve been infused.
Back then,
I was your witness
and now I’m the accused.
The present isn’t cordial,
so we shake until we’re stirred,
and I did not understand a single word.

Your presence paints the air
with your preternatural stare,
as our toast absorbs the eggs,
we take a breather.
Then you speak what’s au courant
in an ornamental font.
Though you’re patently divine,
I’m no believer.

By three,
I was enraptured.
By four,
I was just stunned.
Back then,
I was captured
but now I’m on the run.
The present isn’t cordial,
so we shake until we’re stirred
and I do not understand a single word.

Morning wakes up with alarm
and something’s weighing down my arm.
I investigate and find
it might be you.
The atmosphere’s aflood
with the drippings of a love
that held our lives together
like a glue.

After all the toast and tea
by the sidewalks and the sea,
the breakfast dishes cleared,
the Talk commences.
You blather earnestly
about the world’s gaudy debris
as I cast my eyes about
these torn fences.

The present isn’t cordial,
so we shake until we’re stirred
and I do not understand a single word.