"Is This Seat Taken?"

As alone I sat at the corner table:

"Is this seat taken?" a gentleman enquired.

 

I said, "It would have been if the love of my life

Had not only recently expired."

 

"Is it OK then to take one of these other chairs?" he asked.

I looked at both with a tear.

 

"Oh there would have been seated our son and daughter,

If the angels hadn't carried them to heaven last year."

 

"And this one vacant chair-- the one opposite yours--

If it belonged to a loved one-- your pardon, I beg."

 

Finally, uncontrollably, I burst into tears.

Upon it, obviously, I was resting my leg.

 

"So sorry to have bothered you-- We just needed an extra seat."

"No, no," I pleaded. I was just leaving. Take my table, please.

 

And if you don't mind and it's not inconvenient--

Order my family something to eat."

 

 

B. Kite -- 2/25/2024

 

Done