It’s 16:47 on a Tuesday afternoon

I’m sitting alone in the window seat

Of the Golden Fleece

On the Norfolk coast

People walk past in the lane in front of me

There’s an old couple behind me

Talking non stop

About life, happiness and themselves

Another couple sits in the other corner

They havent spoken at all

Why do some couples look so miserable

Most of the noise 

Comes from the young rowdy bar staff

Seagulls hover outside

Hoping for a chip or two of luck

More people stream in

I always notice couples

When I sit or travel alone

So many couples

All playing out

Their attempts at happy ever after

Some seem to be doing ok

In that endevour

By appearances at least

Nobody ever finds the one

As Bukowski said

But maybe some get close

And I sit here

Gazing out

With these all too familiar feelings

In this all too familiar scenario

I keep telling myself

That as long as the dice is rolling

The six is still in play

But that six sometimes seems some way off

I wonder 

Not for the first time

Whether I owe the universe something

Some cosmic debt 

I have to pay off

I gaze back

To the couple in the corner

The woman’s face looks more forlorn than ever

I drink my Amstel

In this sad corner of this ramshackle pub

And I think 

Let the dice roll