It wasn't time yet or Until I meet you again.

I have never been one to believe in coincidence…
Too many things have happened to bring me to that conclusion.

Some people would call it just a chance encounter.

I subscribe to the belief that things do happen for a reason.

If I knew then what I have learned now,

I would have said something to you back then.

But we weren’t ready. It was only a glimpse.

We briefly sailed into the night and went on our way.

Unlike East and West, somehow we would meet again.

I still had a long journey ahead of me

And you still had to endure the pain of the war you fought.

I had to learn what it meant to be in love with someone.

This also meant I needed to let go of the past.

Of the one who came into my life and almost destroyed me.

Those mistakes of youth that helped us grow into adults.

It took me a long time to exorcise that demon from my soul.

But eventually the pain subsided and I was able to continue.

It took years to learn that lesson,

But unfortunately I needed to learn more.

Of what it meant to just go to the next warm body.

To be in love with an illusion rather than the reality.

To be true to yourself rather than settle for something else.

To be able to handle being alone rather than finding a quick fix.

While I was learning these lessons,

You were enduring something far more perverse.

Something that was far more dangerous

Something that called itself a man.

You lived in the middle of a war zone, if you could call it that.

You were in the middle of a Hell that was disguised as a relationship

It would have been more humane just to have been killed

Rather than to endure another moment of that.  

Looking back at what you told me about that time.

I wish I was able to come in like a noble Knight

And take you away from that nightmare.

The one that was your ‘African Adonis’

But that was not my place, nor was it the time.

You had to learn to get out of there

To stand on your own and fight back.

To ‘Take a Bow’ before you moved on to the next act.

I had fallen back to that familiar path…

A lifestyle that had little room for anything

It is good for those who don’t mind being away from the world

I still wanted to be a part of it.

Which was why I decided to let her come with me.

That was my first mistake.

Whatever we thought we had, only began to fizzle out.

Yet what did I expect, I didn’t really love this woman.

How could I want to be with someone who didn’t want to grow?

Who did not want to make anything of herself?

That would not work because that would just put a strain on me.

After I took her back to her Mile High Palace.

I decided it was time to head back.

Along the way I met some interesting travelers…

Looking for the same thing I was

But something brought me back to you.

I remember that day…

I saw your picture and I just wanted to talk to you.

Didn’t know what to expect, but I decided to take a chance.

We started talking….

Even though we had not seen each other

I was interested in everything you had to say

Learning more about you and the life you led.

Every chance I got, I wanted to talk to you.

Learn more about you, that I knew I wanted to meet you.

Like I said, I don’t believe in coincidence

If there is a Higher Power out there that controls everything.

Call it God, Kismet, or Moirai

Everything was working to have us meet again.

A night that neither of us would ever forget….