My love, when the years have fled behind me,
my hair inevitably bleached by Father Time;
when my step is slow and feeble,
and my eyesight has grown dim,
I shall look back and remember,
stop awhile and muse, perhaps with melancholy,
of long ago when I loved you.
In the winter of my life,
summer and fall having vanished like a lovely sunset,
spring having faded long before I met you
in the summer, when the sun was hot upon my soul,
perhaps on the street or in some aged home
I shall catch a glimpse of a magic one
I knew in the summer of my life.
Alas, I know my weakened heart shall quicken,
even then as now it does,
when I become aware of a certain dark-eyed presence.
And if by chance vaguely you remember,
may we stop, chat briefly for a moment?
I can hear it now, our conversation:
"Well, hello there," you'll say, "it's been a long time,"
and I will remember the song you sang in summer.
Perhaps I will tell you, "I've been doing fine.
I married Jim, you know; passed away some years back.
A good man he was, and I did him right,
but the grass grows green around him now."
Did I remember you, you'll say,
down through the passing years?
My love, need you even ask?
Do you not recall in the summer of my life
what I told you?
Oh, yes, my darling, yes!
Just because you went away, leaving me sad,
I did not love you less.
You built a fence around my heart in the summer,
locked the gate,
and no one ever found the key.
~
Ruth Gillis (ruthgill@worldnet.att.net (Ruth Gillis)
)
~
©September
2004
You can find other poems by Ruth on her website.
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