The Ballad of Harrison and Misako

Originally written April 5, 2007

She loves him, and he can’t bring himself to her. He loves her, but she will shy away at the first heartfelt sign.

Dance around the scene once more for that day when we all have the time. What will we say then about who we found to spend our time with? Will the pictures tell a story of a romance that lingered on for too long, or a friendship that simply ran out of time?

One is a typical frat boy with no expectations of what our reality is like here in Hong Kong. The other, a westernized Japanese girl whose eyes reveal a woman far older than her age would tell. As cliques would have it, for one night they found solace with each other. Sometimes these things just happen, and in these moments we believe everything is going to be all right.

To the west the sun rises and the first light of day she burns off the morning fog. The shadows cast the night before soon disappear in a wash of brilliant light. Morning reveals what was lost the night before. The meaningful glances are now gone, and nothing is left to be said.

The weeks pass; awkward moments replace those of hope and affection. The glances now fall silently by the wayside. She can’t tell him how she feels. He can’t understand why everything fell apart.

There was Tribeca. Where the united colors would be found lounging about the couches of this underage club. As the night carried on and the drama never left our clique, one by one they would find each other to dance the night away. Misako and Jay were all that remained in the private enclave. The night drifted on, but we still had our parts to play. She would ask where our friends had gone off to, and I would tell her the only story she wanted to hear. Harrison would be dancing with Elodie, and that glance once lost would now be returned.

In some other life, we would never have known each other as friends. But in that moment we understood the meaning of it all. She would try until that day then; to make him feel something which would never take. We sat on that couch, hand in hand, knowing that sometimes things just end.

Someone once said to me that we should always say what we feel, because we might not have tomorrow to say it.

We shouldn’t look at these moments for anything more than what they are. Sometimes that is just enough to see us to the morning light.