the girl from the lost and found department

she comes to me in dreams
i hear the echoing whispers of her sneakers in the
old abandoned storage building

dusty cardboard boxes, coffers and long since forgotten luggage
destinations never reached
in times since long ago committed to memories in black and white

i find her by a desk going through an old ladies white leather handbag
the black bakelite desk phone looks like it hasn't rung for eons

she lifts here gaze and says: welcome to the lost and found department
of Long Lost Railroads, how may I help you?

when I don't answer, she turns back to the handbag, pulls out a handkerchief
i am about to ask her if she works here when she says: you shouldn't be here
this late

if you stay too long, you stay forever, it's time for you to leave
I say: what about you? she says: I lost me a long time ago, i already left
I want to ask her if she recognizes me, but as she dials a number on the phone

i hear the lower east side harbor din and distant christmas carols
bowery
the multicolored snowflakes swirling in the biting ellis island onshore wind
on Delancey Street, a bearded face, pointing toward the rusty bridgehead, he says:

that is where you're headed, see you on the other side

I see her still sometimes in lonely allies and in dreams
she's always in a rush, pushing the white handbag close to her
she never sees me

and we never speak