Note: I spent about a week with Elodie eight years ago. I fell madly, historically in love. Obviously. She is absolutely stunning and took my breath away. I was beyond gaga and remain so to this day.

She is my one and only baby. Naturally. My darling, my sweetheart, my lover, my queen. My baby. I will never forget anything from that week. I remember the yellow she wore when we met. I remember Pret in the morning, wine before dinner, cigarettes, the park, the bridge, the chapel, the airport, the songs we sent each other, and a great many things that I could just as easily have forgotten.

As if I could ever forget.

Since the years since I met her I have written six essays and a play about her. I know dude, it’s a lot, So what? I am crazy in love with her and always will be. I will soon turn all of my Elodie material into a book. It will be good and I hope you like it. I know I will.

So in anticipation of that about I wrote her a love poem. Here it is:

Epigraphs:

“I didn’t know what I was in for when I set out for that run.”
— Better Oblivion Community Center

“Two suns in the sunset/ Didn’t know my race was run.”
— Pink Floyd, “Two Suns in the Sunset”

“Don’t stand so close to me.”
— The Police

Elodie, baby, I’m massively in love with you
I always have been, and I always will be.

I arrived on a Sunday. We met on Monday
You were wearing yellow, I recall
You touched my arm and said, “I’m an Aries moon too”
And that began my fall.

We walked lightly to the next session
I had no idea what I was in for
We compared charts and we matched
And I knew I was a goner before we even reached the door.

We sat side by side at the table
Elbows and hands touching tight
When your fingers clasped mine, I almost passed out
You were absolutely stunning, a total knockout.

At dusk we went to dinner
It was inside the main hall
There was turkey, there was gravy,
There was cranberry and all.

Before dinner, we drank wine
Red and white as you please
I bought a bottle with some money
I probably pulled out of my sleeve.

You may have been impressed that I had money
But you probably didn’t care
All I could think was, oh my god, this girl—
Look at her hair.

It was colored chestnut brown
And stretched halfway down her back
It was right about this moment
That I had a heart attack.

After dinner you broke out cigarettes
I’d had a dozen in sixteen years
I caved immediately, of course
I was the victim of all fears.

I feared a future without you
That was something I could not stand
When I got back to my room
I knew I’d have to take matters in my hand.

I played “Mistakes Were Made” by the Mendoza Line
I had to call a spade a spade
The title sounded like some kind of sign
I wanted desperately to wank
There, I said it. Bank.

At the time I had only one thought
Running around my brain
I’m massively in love with this girl
And I cannot stop this train.

I wanted to move to London
Would I? We would see
It probably wasn’t the best idea
But baby, you know me.

Tuesday morning we went to Pret
It was just a ten-minute walk
On the way there all we did
Was talk and talk and talk.

We split the cost of Pret
And walked back to the quad
We sat down in the back garden
I was feeling rather odd.

You had a hearty breakfast
You was at her eating peak
After that you mostly stopped
And I became a little worried
You were looking rather weak.

We never went to another session.

I’d been thinking about muses
And I cast you in the role
When you went along with this
I knew I was in a hole.

She talked about her career
She was a photographer, you see
You was good at what you did
But weren’t making enough green.

You’d had a gig in Italy
With some famous movie stars
But your career was on the downslide
You weren’t getting very far.

You had a job photographing hands
You didn’t like it much at all
You had to do it for the money
Through it all my girl stood tall.

Before dinner you said something
That changed the course of the week
“You’re super charming like my father.”
I knew then I was in deep.

I couldn’t have sex with her. Why?
I just couldn’t say
It had to do with what she’d said about her dad
I didn’t fully understand it; I just knew it was bad.

You told me your dark secret
I had one of my own
As I child I’d been abused
Now one helped; I was alone

As a result of my abuse
As a teen I thought I might be gay
But I didn’t really think so
Things turned out another way.

I was crazy about women
Madly in love with girls
But your story changed the conversation
We were in a whole new world.

Four years earlier I’d written an essay for my blog
Called “Reflections: On Coming Through”
Its epigraph came from Dylan
“This one goes out to someone watching out there tonight.
She knows who she is.”

I wanted something like that with you
I wanted you to be my twin
As it happens, I’m a Gemini.
I was ready to put a little skin

In the game
And see what might take place.

I didn’t know where things were going
I just knew I wanted to run the race
To come in first, to break the tape
To be the champion, set the pace.

I turned on back to Elodie
Tried to think of something to say.

I wanted to say, “Baby, let’s get married”
But there was very little chance
So I put the thought to bed
And kept it in my pants.

After dinner we talked like before
Very, very close
After dinner we had wine
Like every night before.

I got a little drunk
So I counted up the score
I thought I was down on the card
By just a point or two.

It was kind of hard to tell.
Everything was just brand new.

I was head over heels for my baby
And when she said she’d leave her guy
My heart went through the ceiling
And flew on way up high.

Friday came without announcement
We walked on back to Pret
After that we went to a park
It was real nice, I bet.

We’d fallen into a pattern
I was not I
She was not she

We were a we.

There was a little bridge in the park
And she walked up to the top
She said, “Baby, this is my bridge”
I said, “Baby, you’re the boss.”

Then she started crying
Just sitting in the sun
I got a little worried
I said, “Babe, what’s up, hon?”

She said, “I’m so confused
I don’t know what to do
I love my fiancé
And I love you too.”

I said, “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Then I said, “Look, honey, here’s the deal
I live a million miles away
I want to be with you forever
That’s all I’m gonna say.”

“But darling I live in Japan and you are here
Maybe go back to your fiancé
And see how things go, my dear.”

She said, “Well, yeah, I’ll think about it.
I’ll stay in a hotel tonight.”

I said, “Where?”

She said, “London.”

I said, “That sounds about right.”

And then she said a line
I’ve never forgotten to this day:

“Baby, don’t sit so close to me.”

I said, “Just how far away?”

She said, “Just about an inch.”

I said, “Babes, that’s not too far.”

She said, “Well, that’s all I can handle.
I need you where you are.”

Then she fell into my arms.

The ambulances were blaring
Like a city under attack
I was getting pretty tired
And I half carried her back.

We walked back to the campus
She said she had to talk to Claire Martin
One of the tutors on the course.

I went down to the bookstore
There was a dude there, of course.

I browsed around and played Dylan on my phone,
“Red River Shore”
We sat there all alone.

He did a moment chart
Which I thought was pretty funny.

Melanie Reinhart was sitting nearby
I went and sat beside her
I’m not really sure why.

I picked up a book on musical astrology
It was about famous musicians’ charts
I thought it looked pretty cool.

She said, “Don’t buy that one, baby.
Don’t be a silly fool.”

So I bought another book
And then we both stood up.

Melanie had to move out
So we went up to her room
She had a couple heavy suitcases
So dragged them out of there soon

Then I went to say goodbye to Elodie
And we walked into the chapel
I told her I wanted to know her
When she was an old woman.

She said I was sweet
This made me smile.

I said, “Baby, you can’t be beat.”

And we sat there for a while.

Then we kissed goodbye
And I stepped out of the gate
I had to get some lunch
I was running rather late.

As I walked to my hotel
I was feeling pretty weird
I only had a little stubble
But I had to itch my beard.

At the restaurant I got bouillabaisse
And a lovely beer as well.
I texted Elodie Jason Molina’s “Leave the City.”

And she cried.

I said, “Baby, what the hell
Are we gonna do about our relationship?
Who are we gonna be?”

She said, “Baby, I have no idea
We’ll just have to wait and see.”

I said, “Yeah, I guess that’s right
There’s nothing we can do
I’ll see you when I see you, baby
I love you. I do.”

She said, “I love you too.”

I sent a couple more songs
And I’m happy to report
That after the conference
We still got along.

After lunch I was super tired
So I went to get some sleep
I knew once my head hit the pillow
I would sleep real deep.

I woke up the next morning
Around four-thirty or so
My wife had to catch a bus
England isn’t the safest, you know.

So we stood there on the corner
And she climbed onto the bus
In a different kind of way
I didn’t know what we’d do about us.

Then I hugged her quickly
And we said our goodbyes
I took the short walk home
Under the English sky.

I jumped into the shower
I was glad I was alone
I had a cab coming at eight
Pretty soon I’d be going home.

I packed up my things
I didn’t know what the day might bring
In the cab the driver played the radio
I could barely hear a thing.

There was a story about the poor
And how there was very little housing
But I couldn’t really dwell on it
That was somebody else’s deal.

I had to get to the airport
To make my final appeal.

On the plane I played Pink Floyd’s
“Two Suns in the Sunset”
And then I cried a bit.

I thought about my son, of course
I swallowed
Took the hit.

I read Anthony Powell on my Kindle
And he kind of messed me up.
So I asked for peanuts and some wine
In a little paper cup.

I had the wine and then another.
And I started to relax.
I understood then for sure
That I’d have to pay a heavy tax.

I knew my marriage was over
And my career probably as well
It was only a matter of time
Time will always tell.

I landed in Osaka
Got a room across the street
It was too far to Kyoto
Sometimes nearness can’t be beat.

I texted Elodie from the hotel, of course
It was just around nine her time
She said she was working in the park
On someone else’s dime.

I said, “Baby, that sounds awesome.
I wish I was there with you.”

She said, “Me too, baby,
But there’s nothing we can do.”

For the next few weeks
We texted, and called most every day
Then she had a dream and talked to her therapist
And she mostly went away.

The dream took place in the woods
There was a fire of some kind
She said that I was there with her
I began to fall behind.

She said “My therapist says I can’t talk to you.”
I said “Baby don’t say it’s true”
She said “Yeah, I don’t yet know”
I said “Babe it’s up to you.”

After that we sent some letters
And some texts just to chat
I wrote her in March 2019
And that was pretty much that.

I was the last one to write
That was about seven years ago
I figured the door was still open
So I emailed her three weeks ago.

And whether or not she’s read it,
So far it hasn’t been a no.

Email doesn’t have read receipts,
So I don’t know if she saw it.
I’m betting that she did.
So I’ll just have to wait a bit.

She’ll answer or she won’t.
It’s pretty much all the same to me.
Our relationship was years ago.
It’s all history, you see.

But I know I’ll always love her.
That’ll always be a fact.
And I still think sometimes
About going back.

Going back to London
Trying to find her one fine day.
And if I actually found her,
I don’t know what I would say.

I guess I’d say, “Hey, baby,
Do you wanna get some pancakes,
Some coffee,
And hang out?”

She’d say yes or she’d say no.
At least I would find out.

Then I’d go back to Kyoto,
Or maybe Thailand just for kicks.
Maybe move on down to Thailand,
Hit the beach, seek some bliss.

Thinking about Elodie
Has brought up old memories,
And I really need to chill.

Smoke some weed and drink some rum
Or I’m gonna get a little ill.

And sure, I’m ill
I’ve been lovesick for Elodie
Since the first day I ran saw her
In a seminar room on Monday.

I spent about a week with her
And I’ll never forget a thing
That we said or did together
I still want her to wear my ring.

I know that’s kinda doubtful,
But a guy can dream a dream,
And God knows that I have to,
After all the things I’ve seen.

Elodie, baby, give me a call.
Honey, baby, don’t forget me.

I’ll never forget you at all.

Dedication:

For Elodie, my baby. I cannot describe how much I love you, baby. I miss you so much. Baby.