on the fading of strong emotions

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First of the new year (it is past nine am here in Athens, in the year of our Lord 2006) and one tends to be pensive, particularly when more then half of the probable life given us lies behind us. The great passions, the great desires, the great loves, all have faded into the wallpaper by now. The following joke, that I cannot turn into a poem, is often on my mind on such pensive retrospective times:

Few european trains fifty years ago had many comforts, particularly in third class. One had to wait to get off at the next station with a ten minute stop, to satisfy natural needs.Bottled water had not been invented. This is the introduction. Here is the joke:

A man rushed into the the train the last minute and sat accross a passenger. After he settled, he started murmuring with the rhythm of the train : "I am so thirsty, I am so thirsty, I am so thirsty". The fellow passenger was extremely annoyed, particularly as this kept up until the next stop half an hour away.When the train stopped, he pushed the fellow, " Go, go, drink your fill". The thirsty man drank at the fountain, drank and drank. The passenger relaxed, expecting a peaceful continuation of the journey. The former thirsty man settled in his seat satisfied; as the train started into its rhythm, the man started murmuring in time " How thirsty I was, How thirsty I was,How thirsty I was".

This encapsulates for me the vestiges of feelings from strong emotions, years down the way, and I remember it often.