Crown Coffee Shop

Crown Coffee Shop

It's been many years since our first date

and the small Crown Coffee Shop

we walked to on that snowy night

cold and chilled to the bone

no gloves or scarves, just acting cool

the way teenagers tried to do back then.

You said you went there often

and the owner wouldn't mind if we sat

drinking coffee all night. . . just staying warm.

Now it wasn't fancy, you warned me in advance

but it was cozy, and Tina, the waitress served

the best damn coffee this side of the Brooklyn Bridge!

There it was, just ahead, Crown Coffee Shop

the blinking neon sign, like Morse code,

saying "Come on in, you would-be lovers !"

When you opened the door

and I got a whiff of that fresh ground coffee

floating toward my cold pink nose . . . I knew somehow

we'd be sipping coffee together

for the rest of our lives . . . first thing

in the morning, tap, tap tapping out . . . that same Morse code.

Joanne Cucinello