Almost to California…
My Boston girl, I found her at Fort lee, Virginia in the Winter of 1976. She was waited for a love who forsaken you. I made her drink the sweet red wine and we danced near the Winter Virginia beach sea every weekend for three months. She told me, never love a broken girl. Dead heart, sleeping heart shall break your heart.
I remember I told her. Dear Dorothy, love is like a river, flowing toward us or away from us. We must learn to roll and move with the moving water. Life is never easy and love can be harder.
I left for Fort Ord, California in late December 1976 and we made great promises of meeting in Monterey. I remember her brown eyes asking me. Was I true or not? I told you.
“Dorothy , Dorothy. My beloved, please come to California. I want to love you, I want to marry you. I would do anything to see you smile. I would never break your heart.”
I fell in love with California, I befriended the sea, became the Monterey street poet. I would call Dorothy for six months. Each conversation become a river of separation, I was going farther west and she was staying in Boston. I remember I send my last words to her in the Spring of 1977.
“Dorothy, Dorothy. My lovely Boston girl. California is so beautiful, the sea is always dancing for me. I read my poetry three days a week in Monterey and Pacific Grove. You would love the Monterey pier. We could drink Irish coffee, hold hands and talk till the midnight moon appeared. I dreamed you came and we danced with the sea. These are my last words and I do, love you and I shall never forget your beautiful voice, I shall never forget your face, I adored to see. If you become brave, Johnnie is in California. Waiting for his Boston girl.”
Dorothy wrote back. Dear Johnnie, I told you. I would break your heart. Sleeping heart, sometime cannot be awoken. Please dance with the sea for me. I will dream of my Michigan boy who loved to laugh, love to make me smile and we were almost lovers. You were a blessing for a sad Boston girl. Thank you dear John, I love and miss you.
I remembered I told the sea. Please tell my beloved, she didn’t break my heart. She taught me I could love.
Dancing Coyote