Tell Me More Poetry by Nancy Duci Denofio

I Never Knew
I Knew You


I never knew I
knew you, so
many years ago,
I loved you -
never - knew why?

We met – I sipped
coffee - surround
by gray marble
pretending to be
reading – knew
you glanced my
way.

I hated coffee,
but all the people
working in a cement
building with marble
walls, drank coffee
purchased
from a blind man –
I learned to like
coffee, then – when
I glanced up –
holding a white
paper cup – when
you walked by

our eyes met –
you stayed
I always wondered
why?

A sweet smell
of summer, a
morning - in July.
A certain kindness
in your face,
a gentleness,
showed as you
grinned – a safe
place to begin.

I never knew
I knew you,
so many years ago
I loved you -
but we said good bye.

I never knew
where you went,
or who you loved –
I often thought
our paths may
cross –
one more time.
Your red car –
Ice cream sundaes
Beer near a small
town where you lived,
where you knew the
owner – where you
held my hand – and
still smiled – even
without coffee -
I pass the bar –
now and then – it’s
too gone -

I always knew
your white house -
been years since
you left home –

I never knew
I knew you,
so many years ago
I loved you –
and I never knew why?

When someone tells
me they don’t drink
coffee – a smile comes
to my face – I see cold
marble walls and recall
the blind man handing
me my first cup of
coffee, to be like all the
others. . .

For a moment you
returned to say hello -
then I pour some
coffee – and for a
moment, I see that
foolish grin.

Nancy Duci Denofio
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