Meet Me Beneath the Clock Tower - Paige Murray

Meet me beneath the clock tower and tell me that I’m yours again. Our time is short here, but with you, everything seems endless. The ticking is getting faster now and it feels like we’re running out of time, but it doesn’t matter when forever stretches on endlessly with you. We’ll watch the sea roll away again, this time on the right side of the pond, where the waters are warm and the grey city is only a dot in the distance. We’ll both miss this foggy, grey, city, trading one set of skyscrapers for another.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and tell me what I’ve missed. Tell me about your travels to Alaska and how much you enjoyed spending time with your crazy, loud, and boisterous family. I always want to hear about your adventures and see the pictures you’ve taken on that old Canon. I’ll hate when you point it at me, since it will be my turn to smile for you and pose for an eternity.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and I’ll say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be gone so long. I have so many things to tell you, but I wish you could have been here to see them. I’ll ask if you missed me and you’ll say, “more than anything,” and I’ll feel both heavy and light, hoping that from now on, we’ll never be apart ever again. You’ll say, “don’t worry,” and with you, I never will. How could I worry when you offer me a hand and drag me down the bustling street, laughing over your shoulder as we embark on our next adventure into the unknown?

Meet me beneath the clock tower and tell me about the time that’s already passed. Bring me stories of that dry desert where the palm trees sway and sometimes snow gathers in the mountains, painting the sky a dull white. Tell me about the land of a million smiles, where happiness runs endlessly from one corner to another, the air filled with cotton candy and ringing laughter, where you and I fell in love. We’ll go watch the water change under the shining lights and remember the times of the past, creating new memories for the future.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and I’ll tell you about the time that has yet to come. We’ll talk about our plans and hope that they work out. I’ll say, “I’m scared,” and you’ll reassure me that there’s nothing to be scared of. You’re right; with you by my side, I have nothing to fear. We’ll listen to our favorite songs again and again while we zig zag our way across the sky back home. Our home. There will be so many people waiting for us and for a while there will be smiles and stories to share. And all the while you’ll brush your fingers against mine underneath the table, sneaking a grin and sending a kiss my direction when no one is looking.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and promise me that we’ll come back and meet here again. We’ll leave together, a pair, a team. We’ll wander through the museums, haunted with ghosts of younger versions of ourselves, clinging to a time when our only worry was the cold weather biting our cheeks and shivering down our spines. Surprise me with that brilliant smile and tease me into bursting out with laughter. We’ll trade our old knit caps for baseball hats and don sunglasses that reflect the shining sun.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and I’ll tell you I already miss it even though we haven’t left. I will miss the way we zoom beneath the city together, falling towards and away from each other as the trains shift and sway. I will miss the way we run from one platform to another, laughing and nearly catching our breath before we break into another run, worried we’ll miss that 9:40 train in the morning to the countryside. After this, there will be no more train rides, no more time spent staring into each other’s eyes, while those around us stare at their shoes. Now there will be private car rides and honking horns. You’ll miss the green light as you stare over at me and I’ll fall in love all over again.

Meet me beneath the clock tower so we can pretend that time isn’t flying all around us. The rain won’t fall anymore, but we’ll wish it did, so we can laugh under an umbrella that does little to protect us from the wet drops diving down from above. You’ll talk about the latest football match you saw, eyes lighting up with excitement, and I’ll tell you quietly about the book I read recently that threw me back in time in the very city we left our invisible footprints.

Meet me beneath the clock tower and we’ll grow together once more. Our future may be unknown, but it is bright and I know that you are the constant shores to my ever-flowing ocean, drifting away time and again, but always finding a way back to each other in the natural flow of life. We’ll give the world beautiful shells and surge with the love burning inside us, but at the end of the day, you are the one I will fly home to and want to find lounging in the sun, with the sand beneath your toes. Meet me at the beach where time is a far and distant thing, and we’ll finally stand on the same shoreline, basking in each other’s glow, waiting for our eternity to start immediately.