chronicle of lives entwined, traditional poetry |
Two Lives 1958 She was 14 and I was 15 when we had our first date for a movie and a coke. Hot summer nights in a small home town When Elvis was all the rage, Love comes so easily At such a tender age. Enthralled, we explored and found each other. Impulses of youth, so desirous As lovers will extol, Are surging tides of pulsing desire Raging out of control. 1961 But then we lost the spark. Time wore off the newness and we wondered if it might be rekindled by others. Regardless how hot may be the passion, How intense the flame, Youthful love will burn to embers Till ashes only remain. Vivid the memories, love's first heartbreak; A young man yearned to roam, And a winsome lass undauntedly cast To venture on her own. And so we went about our lives, summer camps, college, new friends, new romances, rarely speaking, let alone seeing each other. Moving in tangents, ever farther apart, Wandering from friend to affair, Each one sought with passing time A newfound love to share. 1965 One Autumn day, far away and lonesome, I mailed her a letter asking if she would spend Thanksgiving with me if I sent her a ticket. She took her first airplane ride that Fall. Destined good fortune, no fate could protest, Bridged the yawning years, And renewed love was found to fill The chasm with joyful tears. 1966 We married the following summer. Between working and school, our families a thousand miles away, we held each other with no thought of loneliness. As migrating birds surely come home to roost, As surly as the sea Returns to shore to find its rest, A love was destined to be. 1968 The youth of our lives together. Children came and the sweetness flowed like a river, on and on out sight. Amidst the flowers and occasional showers, Two daughters in early Spring Descended directly from heaven to earth And taught the angels to sing. 1980 Maturing love initially wrapped Two hearts with warmth and wonder, Then scaled the heights of bellowing clouds That roar with Summer's thunder. 1998 Without care, in early Fall, Thoughts can tend to sorrow, But evening's dusk contains no dread When hope precedes tomorrow. 2000 We saw the seasons, children came and left. We returned to where we started - just the two of us. Precious moments, Oh, so precious, Fraught with earthly harms, Pass as only comfort can, In each other's arms. 2020 We still thrill at the sight, the touch, the closeness of each other - in our hearts the teenagers of all those years ago. Oh, my Love, how can one bear Leaving the other to pine? My dearest Love, how can one bear To be left behind? |