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Second Cup Chances
by Maureen Glaude
Where the Knox Church stands proud of its heritage
its notice of Lent with a welcome to all
at the corner of Elgin and Lisgar in Ottawa
is the Second Cup café and Bagel Shoppe
where the front window spies on the Court House
where major and minor cases are fought
down the street from Fridays Roast Beef house
where the staff report haunted stairways
is the café that shares space with the bagel shoppe
where customers seek relief from these
wet winds of March
amid mingled scents of latté and Columbian
and ginger and mint cream cookies
float their tempting aromas to
where students from the University of Ottawa
office workers and shoppers gather
to chatter or just relax
and ladies in pairs who contend with umbrellas and coffees
in their hands, stand staring at the empty seats
asking each other anywhere?
where I sat alone with my decaf and scone
killing time before my shift one late winter afternoon
and a man at the next table sat solo too
fidgeting for what became fifteen minutes
feigning to settle his eyes on the Sun headlines
amid his ritual checks of the doorway
inspecting his watch at close intervals
where a new swing of front glass
brought a fresh blast of cold
and a rush of footwork followed
bringing a woman, looking wary at first
but discovering him at the back
advancing in quickstep down the aisle right to him
where she stood from across his table
sliding back her coats rainhood
releasing her long brown hair
revealing attractive features
and a smile, she could not conceal
to which he replied in kind
where brief, sweet greetings repeated
marking beneath the how are you's
a sensation that portrayed
the lengthy wait for this reunion
and somehow a huge sense of could?
Anxiety for their proximity
and a past intimacy implied
they maintained polite distance
where, in this humble settings encounter
the shyness rose to
a confident hint of new chances?
Where a magnificence passed through their small space
in this everyday place
an aura of recovered gold stroked the air
as she gushed out apologies for being late
Where the man reassured her he had not waited long
but the new flush to his face
was not from the lie, or from damage from sun
where they let the table separate them
yet their eyes declared life now surpassed fine
but in the empty pause before she sat, she asked
Well, can't we have a hug?
Where I sat, so closeby, I felt like a voyeur
and tried to look away, but then I remembered...
understood ...something of those... places, or beats
where or when one enters that state, so oblivious
no-one can disturb two as such
even in this thriving mid-day cafe
where she told him shed brought photos to show him
and planted them on his side of the small table
before going to buy her coffee
As long as theyre not offensive? he teased
Well, no guarantees, one or two just might be
she quipped, and with a lilt of intrigue
on her sentence's end
she left him to enjoy the subtext
on returning she sat gladly as if
settling down from a rush of adrenalin
facing him, from across the intimate space
where he basked in the warmth of the moment
where, the hands on the wall clock reminded
me it time I rose to leave
for my shift; as I did, I thought back
to how the man sitting solo in this café
when I'd arrived this afternoon
had changed so, as had this whole section of the room
since the womans arrival
and how after pushing against that door
and escaping the March sleet and gloom
where Elgin and Lisgar Streets meet, in Ottawa
across the corner from the old Knox Church
and where shed fast searched
way to the back of the café
and found him there waiting
she too had blossomed like the next season
though like him, her start was shy and reticent
in this cafe with the history
of their significant rendez-vous?
03/08/2004 Author's Note: Partially an anaphoric poem
Posted on 03/08/2004
Copyright © 2024 Maureen Glaude
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