Her smile, as warm as sun, did shine
Begins this tender tale of mine
Of girl, ordained by gods’ decree
To be the life and death of me
And yes, she shone, lit up my life
This girl who’d one day be my wife
But long before that sacred day
My true love felt the urge to stray
And stray she did; she said she must
For larger life her heart did lust
So as I sat at college desk
A student on crusader quest
She called me up to settle score
“I cannot do this anymore,”
She wept, for it was hard to part
With love still burning in her heart
This blow I parried with a plea:
“My darling, you are killing me…”
But, oh, how easy it can be
To lose your love and liberty!
For when our ties she’d cruelly cut
I soon was shackled hand and foot
To creature, crueller than Macbeth
A lady, dire and dour as death
A woman of the smallest wit
Who snared me when my girlfriend quit
While she, who’d been my summer sun
Got wed; a deed she thought well done
She lived the dream – far as I knew
I later found this was untrue
For she had kept in bedside draw
The smiling faces we once wore
When we were young and flushed with youth
In photographs, that told the truth
That lovers who are born to be
Are never of each other free
So as the seasons came and went
And time for us was almost spent
Love’s deeper magic saved the day
It moved the stars and Milky Way
Aligned the planets; turned the tide
So we could end up side by side
When twilight fell and cast its cloak
Upon us: frailer, older folk
At fifty, Time itself stood still
So other loves we both could kill
As they lay sleeping, safe in bed
We broke their hearts, for we both fled
And girl, with summer’s smile so sweet
At kissing gate arranged to meet
And I knew then it would be fine
Her life, once more, entwined with mine!