The Blue Umbrella

I saw you by the bakery / Holding a blue umbrella / You were counting coins for coffee / With your sleeve pulled over your hand / I thought I knew you from somewhere / But I couldn't place the face / You looked up when I was leaving / Then looked away again / (Where have I seen you?) / (Where have I seen you?) / Three days later, the laundromat / You were folding someone's sheets / I was waiting for the dryer / With a book beside my feet / You smiled as if remembering / Then turned back to the clothes / I wanted to ask your name / But the moment came and went / The city has a funny habit / Of putting people in the same room / Then I saw you at the station / Reading underneath the glass / A train arrived between us / And carried half the crowd away / I searched the other platform / But you had disappeared / I kept looking for that umbrella / Though there wasn't any rain / Maybe you live around here / Maybe you work nearby / Maybe these are coincidences / That only look strange from inside / A week passed without seeing you / Then there you were in the bookstore / Your finger tracing titles / On a shelf beside my hand / You looked at me and smiled / Like we'd already shared a secret / Then you placed a folded piece of paper / Between two paperback books / I waited until you left / Before I opened it / It wasn't your number / It wasn't an address / It wasn't a name / It said: / You keep looking for me. / (You keep looking) / (For me) / (You keep looking) / (For me) / I walked outside without the paper / The street looked different somehow / A bus passed through the rain / And someone opened a blue umbrella / I watched it disappear / Around the corner ahead / Then I started walking after it / Without knowing where it led / Maybe I had seen you first / Maybe you had seen me / Maybe neither one of us / Was ever where we thought we'd be / (Blue umbrella) / (Blue umbrella)