The End Of The Road

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“Then I said goodnight and tucked you away inside a place called Nostalgia, where you’ll always remain unspoiled, somewhere between my lungs that used to breathe ocean air, and my belly that fluttered with hope.” – Victoria Erickson.

 

Lonely I strode the woods this morning,

Drawn by the urgent chirping of birds;

The sun was still not up in full strength –

Though the sky lay out its lighted hearse.

 

Through the clouds there emanated a chill,

That ran down swathing the bristling leaves;

It wrapped my soul as cotton gauze so tight –

Bandaging firmly my bleeding mind and heart.

 

Insulated, I walked back in time to when we met

Over dinner after a copious amount of red wine:

To when I first looked into your eyes, searching

In their loneliness – a home for my wary heart.

 

Wasn’t it pain that really connected us inexplicably

Over our mutual attraction through amorous smiles?

Even though we had first come together over words

I splurged in abundance, while you used one a dime!

 

Over years now we’ve loved over distance and time,

Connecting hearts over continents, sometimes miles:

As what we kept hand in glove was our soaring minds –

That made love intimately, with a connection divine.

 

Till one day on my visit to a museum, a message arrives –

Your love for a blue eyed doe you’ve zealously revived:

To whom you’ve dedicated my sincerest potions of love –

The ones I wrote for you scratching my dedicated heart.

 

How now am I going to withdraw from you, the deep love 

That I’ve showered – with my heartfelt words for so long?

When I’ve learned a shallow pond but were those words –

Submerged in which you remained in love over its shores! 

 

So now carrying the ashes of my love in my minds urn –

I stroll between pews of trees – in an aisle of pine wood,

Treading softly as in a church – through a choir of birds,

To the altar – past this one-way road of unrequited love.

 

Where I’ll place you in a vault at the altar of my heart,

The key to which I will securely carry with me lifelong:

For this key will only open the door to my locked heart,

Allow someone else to find me ready at the altar of love.   

 

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