Mind the Gap

(A poem based on the true love story of Oswald Laurence & Margaret McCollum. Read more about them here.)

Beneath the streets of London
an old woman waits,
to hear the lost voice
of her departed soul mate.

At Embankment station
she takes a snug seat,
for she’ll be here for hours
to hear what’s left of her sweet.

Businessmen and tourists
gather around
to travel the tunnels
that were dug underground.

But the old woman won’t
be traveling at all.
She’ll just sit here and wait
to hear her love’s call.

As the tube train approaches
at first there’s the roar
then the headlights, the breeze
and finally, the doors.

And as the doors open
she closes her eyes
and pretends he’s still there,
sat right by her side.

“Mind the gap,” he announces
in a deep phantom tone
and the old woman smiles
for right now she’s not alone.

Her heart’s filled with memories
that cannot be compared,
of the man she called husband
and the life that they shared.

The passengers board
and the train pulls away,
but the smiling old woman
chooses to stay.

She’ll wait for the next train
and the one after that,
and watch as the passengers
indeed mind the gap.

For all that she wants
is to hear her man’s call,
because losing true love
leaves the biggest gap of all.