LOST SUPPER      

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

One evening, just sitting there

in a restaurant at a table

with 4 or 5 others,

I became all alone

after a dumb comment.

Self destruction silences me.

It can also ruin my meal.

It can also bring an insight,

a self revelation - a new knowledge

about me - about life - about others.

Cutting remarks - a caustic comment

like a steak knife scratching a white plate -

causes those around the table

to shrug shoulders and wince eyes. 

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb me.

I don’t pause enough before I speak.

I have a MeTube collection of these

un-thought out spoken thoughts - long before

YouTube movies made their appearance.

Delete. Delete. Delete. But somehow

they won’t or don’t  or can’t disappear.

I sit there alone - at that table with 5 -

replaying some other moment in my life,

in some other restaurant 
where this same thing happened before. 
Why can’t these re-runs 
disappear so I can enjoy a meal 

and communion with my friends?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2012