SMOKE RINGS.....Jude kyrie

The ash line lengthens.
From my untouched cigarette.
Smoke rings billow
Like clouds passing eternity.

Its past the time of sleep.
Only memories flow
Only of you
always you..

The bartender freshens my drink
. The music weeps from
The sweetness of sound
that only the alto sax Can bring.

. A nelson riddle arrangement
Touches my soul as always.

When you're near,
there's such an air of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere,
begin to sing about it,
There's no love song finer,
but how strange the change
from major to minor,
Everytime we say goodbye.

It's Ella's trademark song
But we borrowed it.
It was ours honey.
Just for a while.

The whisky burns my throat
As the saxophone wails.
The ashtray smokes
You are behind its mist.

The bar is quiet and peaceful
The drinks dull all pain.
Outside the rain is falling
neon lights color the pavement
in muted reflections.

I see us again through the window.
Arm in arm walking in the rain.
Then you float away
Like the smoke in my ashtray.

The sax builds up
to the last line Ella almost whispers

Everytime we say goodbye.