Wading Through Troubled Waters

Wading Through Troubled Waters
It was long ago when I heard the elders say
That a half tamed heart could be led astray,
So through the years I listened well
And saw love as a game of Show-N-Tell,
Which labored through my roaming eyes
As I tried to find its gentler side,
And heed these words in such a way.

In a tepid light I saw her standing there,
The sun was soft as was the glare
Against her slender features full of fallen grace
And I told her, “You have a lovely face.”
And so it started thus began,
She was my woman and I her man.
And for a while she handled me with care.

Days to weeks, one month into a year;
I kept her close when she was near.
And when she spoke I held it true
Like when she said, “There are parts of me in you.”
Or when she played her favorite songs
And I would watch her sing along…
Faint should be the heart that knows no fear.

Yet when the rains came I saw ominous signs
Even when she said she didn’t mind.
But if love is bartered with copper tokens,
Then there are things in life best left unspoken.
For in the same breath I heard her mention,
“It’s the deeds themselves and not intentions.
That a poem’s worth does not rest in rhymes.”

Now resolved in weariness to remove all doubt,
Still I was slow to know and figure out,
That even hidden things are plainly seen.
They are what they are and they mean what they mean;
And that from want to have from had to want,
Had been absent from my train of thought.
Now—it’s all I think about.

Or that by saying more we said less,
But by and by I must confess
That where once we walked was where I wandered
Trying to find a trace of her left uncovered
Beneath the frosted, snow laced the ground
But what was lost was never found...
Save for that love makes all of us less honest.

So caution is what reckless made,
Her scent still lingers where once she laid.
And while never was blood drawn from stone
No one can live on bread alone.
For as Fortune’s favors fell fiercely fast,
Two years have gone and come to past.
Through troubled waters I must wade.