Eating Alone is like dating a daydream

Eating Alone is like dating a daydream
"Who are you talking to?"
Nobody but somebody should be sitting there opposite me
at the table for two, setting for one.
"We will have water without lemon."
I totally miss that I am talking as if she is ordering too.
The waiter looks at me with concern in her face
we both look at the empty chair as I shrug
"This is too weird."
It's weird and sadly tragic as embarrassment
wars with the discomfort that she will admit
the unseen presence by calling it what it is
"No lemon, water it is."
The moment is already to bitter to mix that
sad fruit into the mood of the table surrounded by
couples and family and groups of friends
and, and I just hate the whole thing
but I am hungry for company, for food
for companionship like a man alone in
the desert searching for water except I am drowning
in the ocean of people around me
"Here's your water, sir."
With lemon in it.