She appeared out of nowhere, a stranger across the bar, as the paper fell from my hand. She caught it with her slender sinewy arm before it hit the floor.

She said, "We'll have to make this work as an introduction". Then she read my scribbles out loud.

It said,

"I thought that I had caught her
But her heart decayed to clay
So I went and asked her father
Why his daughter couldn't stay

"He said I shouldn't even bother, he taught her
That love dies long, long, long before it grays
'The wind whips across the water
Which will wash you right away'"

So I said it wasn't mine. She said, "Oh no?"
I said, "Okay it is, it was, but that was a long long time ago."
She sat down across the table and said, "I don't know what's worse--
Recalling or dreaming or thinking or writing or speaking in verse."

So I stopped. I stopped. I did. She sipped her drink. I gulped mine. My face was red. I looked up at the TV. I watched whispers of war, watched markets free-fall. She said nothing. I bit my nails. I started to stand.

She said, "Not yet." She shook her head. She set down her glass and she said,

"This gritty rusty world has got me feeling kind of shitty
The apocalypse that's coming's got me weighed down in pity
So if you're still feeling, if you're still feeling... witty
I guess I'd just like to hear... something pretty."

So I said,

"The sky over our city is gonna fall tonight
But I don't want you to think it won't be alright
Out west the moon's still shining bright
And I'd like to see you in campfire light
The mountains are still standing, the snow will melt
The falls remind us how fairy tales felt
The Leviathan smiles but he's miles from here
We've got a little while before he's anywhere near
We'll spill our dark secrets in some ruined hotel
Then skip out to the courtyard to throw them down the wishing well
Down the wishing well

"When the ocean catches fire, the air turns black
We'll fight for the future, forget about the past
Climb the crumbling towers till the view is clear
Then watch it all disappear
But we're still here
We're still here."

Then I stopped, embarrassed, and mumbled to the floor, "I'm really not the fine man you may take me for. My past has died, my present lies, and it's only when the world ends that I'll hit my stride. But if you have a little patience till the end of days, we can talk awhile, and stay up late."

She said, "That's a fucked up way to ask me if I want to spend the night."

Then she said, "Alright."