for years they carried on like that…passin’ each other like ghosts down a dark hallway in the middle of the night…she goin’ to her room…he went to his…stopped sharin’ a bed long time ago…said it was his snorin’…she talked in her sleep…

stopped kissin’ each other too…got to the point they wouldn’t even embrace…neither one tried…he’d sit in his Lazy-Boy watchin t.v. and drinkin’ a cold one…she’d be on the couch readin’ People…Better Homes and Gardens…Reader’s Digest…somethin’ to pass time…too much time…

twenty-five years gone-by…rings on swollen fingers…love left awhile ago…leaves raked in the Fall…yard mowed in the Summer…appearances were kept up…he’d go down to the Shriner’s lodge…she with her Bible study on Wednesday nights…the good book said til death do we part…til death do we part…

and he had big plans…he was gonna be a foreman…wound-up goin’ from job to job to job…assembly lines…bus driver…road crew worker…grocery stocker…anything to bring home a check…vacations spent under the hood of a car…nailin’ down thresholds…steam cleanin’ carpets…dreamed of goin’ ‘cross country…just dreamed…

she was a church secretary…answered phones…fetched pastor’s coffee…typed the Sunday program…wanted to go-off and do missions work…spread the word of God…got used to bein’ used to…corns grew on her feet…

Life just slips away…,they thought quietly…,Dreams die in a hurry…,never said a word…was written on their faces…

for years they carried on like that…passin’ each other like ghosts down a dark hallway in the middle of the night…