I knew you when rain fell
like pearls on your cobbled
sidewalks, a skinny doorway 
where the streetlight smelled
of the sea, Chimay beer,
Dover sole, where the alleys
and shops were safe as sleep
warm as sex

where trains ran on time
and we all took time for one another
to enjoy a joke or a smoke,
where I waved to you from the
plane, promising we'd be
together again soon
when we would hold hands
and stroll in the afterglow of
being connected
which we were--a rare and 
beautiful feat to say I knew 
you and I loved you
     just the way you were