I have lost you now and lost you fairly,
With sudden force to notch its rapid rate.
But I can say this now and do so safely
If greater losses were felt than rarely
Has the world ever equaled what it did take.
Far too often we are tempted to betray,
By instincts’ contrasts through such vast extremes,
For as reason governed still plods its way
Against these rising tides which tend to stray
And snap the stiches and stretch the seams.
Still they say, “Better this than the wild.”
And my mistake, the result of too much honesty,
While harmony a playmate of the meek and mild,
A Lesson I should have learned when I was a child,
I gave up my love to preserve its memory.
Now, like winter tales on forgotten trails
Heavy hearts seldom break or bend,
As love is fragile and much too frail
And common in places that are prone to fail
From such injuries that never seem to mend.
But these tired words won’t wake the dead,
Not when the fault rests on me so squarely
Where once was warmth I have traded instead
For these untucked sheets and an empty bed;
For I have lost you now and lost you fairly.