<\/p>\n
We <\/em>were here before you were born.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Fewer cobwebs. Someone dusted.<\/p>\n Sawdust on the floor.<\/p>\n Pot- bellied stove for cold winter nights.<\/p>\n Memorabilia, pictures, flags,<\/p>\n A Who\u2019s Who<\/em> and What\u2019s What<\/em> of Manhattan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where Abe Lincoln held Bible Study<\/p>\n And I first felt old when I didn\u2019t get carded on my birthday.<\/p>\n We talked to the couple from D.C. who owned a restaurant,<\/p>\n And the first responder firemen.<\/p>\n The young couple from Brazil who loved American football and hated socialism.<\/p>\n The older couple who came into the City on Sundays.<\/p>\n The English teacher from Manhattan College,<\/p>\n Who we wanted to fix up with our son.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We heard a bagpipe concert in the afternoon.<\/p>\n Watched the Mets win Game 6 of the World Series.<\/p>\n 2 Lights and 2 Darks\u2026Again\u2026.Again\u2026.Again\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026.Prompted singing \u00a0Puttin\u2019 On the Ritz in the Port Authority Bus Terminal,<\/p>\n Homeless audience parting like the Red Sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The best lamb sandwich I ever ate.<\/p>\n Crispy saltines, a plateful of cheddar and onions.<\/p>\n Mustard that will knock your socks off and make your nose run.<\/p>\n Friends meet. Strangers become friends.<\/p>\n 2 Lights and 2 Darks\u2026Again\u2026Again\u2026Again\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Sue Storts<\/p>\n 08\/13\/2016<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We were here before you were born. \u00a0 Fewer cobwebs. Someone dusted. Sawdust on the floor. Pot- bellied stove for cold winter nights. Memorabilia, pictures, flags, A Who\u2019s Who and What\u2019s What of Manhattan. Where Abe Lincoln held Bible Study And I first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":737,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/737"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22083,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21494\/revisions\/22083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}