It's always the strangers
that do the most damage,
the ones you never get to know,
seen in passing cars,
mirrored in windows and remembered,
and the others, the ones who promise
everything and go away.
Sometimes I think people were
meant to be strangers,
not to get to know one another,
not to get close enough to damage
the heart made older
by each new encounter.
But then, someone comes along
and changes all that,
for a while anyway.
Still as the years go by,
it's easier to remember
the streets where it happened
than the names.
And who was the one on
Channing Way?
When I remember Channing Way
I think about the sun
How many shades of gold there were
When love had just begun
I think about the sky
That summer salt July
I think about that little bed
And all the things I might have said
And most of all the things
I didn't say
That first warm night we loved
on Channing Way
When I remember Channing Way,
I think about the time
Your upside -down smile
became a thin and bitter line
I think about the rain
not seeing you again
I think about the dripping trees
Those little things, the love I seize
When love is just a word
that folks can't say
I can't recall your name,
But the street was Jen
ning Way.