55 Eastend Avenue

 I’d like to take the time

To thank you, for

Not laughing at me,

When,

I offered to cook you a meal

And in my culinary imagination

Proceeded to cook you spaghetti

Pasta, with nothing but a plain

Ragu sauce poured over it,

No meat, onions or mushrooms,

No herbs, salt or spices,

Just a bland tasteless contraption

That was dire on the palate.

 

I’d like to take the time

To thank you, for

Taking me up 20 floors of stairs

To the top of your apartment block

On the East side of Manhattan

Where we stuffed our faces with

A Chinese takeaway, and

Marveled at the monumental view

Of Queens, the South Bronx and

The glorious architectural achievement

Of the Queensborough Bridge.

 

I’d like to take the time

To thank you, for

Making me realize, that a

Male and female can be

Exceptional friends without the

Need for sexual indulgence,

Or lover’s demands and fears

That ultimately destroys and maims,

And that two members of the

Opposite sex, can have a glowing

Platonic relationship that

I miss to this day.

 

I’d like to take the time

To thank you, for

Making me appreciate, my worth,

Potential and general good points,

Of how you truly believed in me

When all my contemporary’s back

In my native homeland,

Avoided me like an axe man

With halitosis –

How you stretched your arms

Across the vast emerald Atlantic,

And invited me to your home

And gave me the chance to

See, hear, feel and breathe

The beautiful electric beast

New York, I thank you.

 

I’d like to take the time

To apologize, for

What I became, for what

And how I treated you,

Of how I ruined our precious

Ethereal friendship, of the

Drunken phone calls at midnight,

Of the complete lack of respect

For you, and ultimately myself.

There is not a day that passes

Even now, so many years after,

That I don’t wonder what you’re

Doing, what you developed in to,

Why my battered betrayal

You won’t forgive, and let

Me start again, if only

You’d listen I could start to

Say sorry, if only you’d listen,

Lets start again…