Were We Ever Young?
A Lament and Heartbeak
Were we ever young?
She asks with a wry smile,
hand raised, palm flat extended,
gesturing as memory flickers.
Hair steel gray, shorn short,
she motions hurriedly to love…
the Rachel of many places and faces,
flitting through vaults of remembrance.
First encounters,
meeting, eyes locking,
electric jolts and tingles,
tension thick enough to breathe.
The fire of our first dance,
your eyes of smoked chocolate
locked on mine,
ensorcelling me whole.
Years collapsed into days…
we met, we loved, we married,
we were lost to those days…
we burned like lanterns in summer winds.
Yet all sunrises eventually
sink beneath troubled skies,
hidden from sight
by the storm’s cries.
I still see her now,
the you that saw me.
I remember your cheek beneath my hand,
the light that lived in your eyes.
Joy was her mantle,
as she danced the night,
a song in flesh,
a rhythm with eyes.
How I long for her.
How I mourn her.
How I rage at her.
She left me in the dark,
alone, carrying a torch
she had long ago cast aside.
But Hope remains in gloried glimmers,
Given in gratitude and engraved,
God as Hope, worship as weapon,
And His purpose my passion.