Finnish.

I knew a Finnish girl once,
that would like to teach me words.
Pronunciation... difficult she'd often
break it into thirds.
But one she never taught me,
was how to say goodbye.
And when I asked her for her reason
she said -
"But goodbye, would be a lie."
Putting partly down to mis-translation
and partly down to alcohol -
it being Friday and her being of the teenage occupation...
Yet she repeated her words.
"But goodbye, would be a lie."
Now she's not one to make a mistake twice -
I don't know if I'd call her English good
but it was certainly nice and so
I asked her again to explain.
"Fate." She said - considering the mystery
her answer seemed plain,
but she left it that and the question
remained.

Not more than two years later I finally understood
when I saw in a hotel bar, the exact same Finnish girl
I'd once spoken to, from afar.
It all clicked - it all made sense.
"Goodbye, would be a lie"
because we would always end up here -
even if I'm not a fan of the divine -
this seemed odd. Undeniably so.
I built up the confidence to go over,
thinking of some cheesy line.
A rehash of a rehash from that one once
original time.
But in the final moments all that escaped my lungs,
Finnish I'd remembered now seemed like distant tongues.
As I sat in the chair, smile armed and ready.
My breath I had to steady.
It wasn't her sitting there.
But some other girl, with the same ribbons in her hair.
She looks up, confused at first.
But confusion gives way to curiosity
which works it's way into a smile.
And for what feels like a long while. I freeze.
It's easy, break it into thirds.
"It's kinda funny...
I once knew this Finnish girl
who liked to teach me words."

Start.

Well your mind's in the right place,
but is your heart?
Meaning to do well doesn't mean too much
if it's something you never start.