I was driving home, waiting at a red light when the radio began to play that old familiar song, I hadn't heard it in ages and it made me think of you and I. So long ago. I was sure you were a harmless memory until all those old feelings came rushing in and the next thing I knew the tears started to flow. Tell me, how can you still touch me across the sea of time? Over twenty years of living and an ocean stands between us but with one simple song I remember it all like it was yesterday.
We were young and so in love, everything was possible, the world was at our feet and the future ours to claim. Sitting in your cramped apartment and dreaming dreams as big as the Milky Way. I can still see the way your eyes shine, the way your hand felt in mine, how my heart ached just looking at you, you were the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.
Remember the night we watched 'Endless Love' and when the ending came I broke down and cried? My heart remembers the way you touched my face and kissed the tears away. Remember all those Chinese dinners and how you tried in vain to teach me how to use chopsticks? My heart recalls the night when I just couldn't get it right, I was so frustrated, so you fed me using yours. Remember the night we lay on a blanket under the stars? My heart remembers how you pointed out the constellations and called them by name, then you turned to me and said, " A billion stars, but none of them shine as bright as the one beside me."
Strange but I can still feel your touch, I can still smell your skin; like spice and earth, I can still feel your kiss; as soft as an angel's wing. And if I didn't tell you then, let me tell you now, that you were the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to a man this side of Heaven. When we made love you gave me more than just your body, you opened up your heart and soul, you gave me all that was you. No one before or since has touched my heart in so many places with such gentle grace.
I remember the day we had to say "Goodbye," but neither one of us could say the word, you held me tight and said, "I don't think I can leave you."
But in the end you had to go.
I remember watching you go through the gate and down the tramway to the plane's door, and then you turned around and ran against the crowd shouting my name. My heart remembers how you jumped the gate, picked me up, held me to your heart and begged me, "Please come with me!"
But I was young and afraid and I foolishly stayed behind.
I remember watching your plane taxi down the runway and lift off into a cloudless sky. My heart remembers how I watched a part of my soul fly away on the wings of a big silver bird.
For twenty years I've regretted not getting on that plane, twenty years of wondering what might have been. My heart remembers everything about you; that handsome, dark- haired young man with a French accent from Switzerland who loved me like no one ever has before or since. I know that loving and being loved by you was a once in a lifetime chance. A chance I foolishly let slip away.
Still I wonder, do you think of me when you hear that old familiar song? A part of me still holds out hope that you'll come back some day, because we never really said 'Goodbye.' Until then my heart remembers and so does the song...
I will follow you, will you follow me All the days and nights that we know will be I will stay with you will you stay with me Just one single tear in each passing year
For Francois, who taught me what true love is and who still touches my heart twenty years later.
And for those who read and wonder, yes, this is a true story.
(Lyrics to "Follow You, Follow Me" by Genesis are copyrights of Atlantic Recording Corp. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.)