the rags and drooping face
left hanging on the skeleton
of a commuting underground man
softened through marriage by inertia

i asked which stop was his
it came off not as i would ever intend
as if looking for a circumstantial friend
to flavor a life filled with cheating women

the defeated warrior was polite
raised his eyes from a stack of financial papers
the absent sex life, the shopping for drapes
gave him a fading glow of aged anticipation

i let his answer fill
the tense space between our smiles
and left it there to rot awhile
like the epiphanies in my future and his past