AIRING OUT LOVE’S ATTIC

 

 

 

We started when autumn leaves stuck to the ground,

And rambled; bantered all around.

When morning dew smeared the vehicle’s glass;

Onlookers admired our repartee ’til trip passed.

 

Off to a park on a sky clear day,

You made your intentions known along the way;

My heart emerged to blast the bitter wind

And so I knew our union would begin.

 

Every day collected as a new secret shared;

If the unhidden had scarred, we didn’t care;

For laughter, thoughts and dreams we discovered,

Without seeing realities not yet uncovered.

 

Important moments, holidays, suddenly arose,

Though I wasn’t invited to share in any of those;

I excused the overlook as the newness of love,

Until the frosty cold forced me to peer beneath my gloves.

 

What I found were the same working hands,

That tried to remold; then you stopped and took a stand;

Stuck you have been in years of hardened ways,

Rebuffing my present efforts to settle and stay.

 

For your life has never truly belonged to me;

You made that clear from day three;

That love has eluded you, its constancy, too,

Still your heart wants to begin with me anew.

 

So out with long-standing, tired ways,

We strive to forgive, to mend broken days;

Packed baggage we open and hope to toss;

Happy memories saved, unhappy lost.

 

For pain hasn’t resurfaced with the fallen rain;

No, I’ve been there before and probably will again;

Decades I’ve traveled: body tired, not spirit;

Naysayers may dither but I won’t hear it!

Wendy Shreve