They both met in high school
Fell in love like a struck fool
Knew right away this was the one

From the very start
They melded each others heart
Yes, you can say it's true love

So after graduation
No need for explanation
Made plans to be together for life

They set to marry
In late February
Until that rainy evening on that fateful night

Now she places wooden crosses
On the highway losses
Of those that never made it back home

Mothers and Fathers
Brothers and Daughters
Who've lost out on love like her own

Which is the reason this quest
The center of her loneliness
Thinking back to what she almost had

When they both slipped from her hands
Her love and her life plans
Where irony is all she has left

If she could turn back the clock
To all that she's lost
Would it make a difference in where she is today

Being the same girl
In that same shattered world
Where he still holds the heart that she gave away

As she places wooden crosses
On the highway of losses
Of those that never made it back home

Mothers and Fathers
Brothers and Daughters
Who've lost out on love like her own

What you don't see
is the way I wait,
watching her braid
worries in her hair
speckling small daisies,
my eyes like tumblers
gulping her in swigs
as she perches glasses
on the arch of her nose,
and then we'll take
a photo
to remark on how
we were back then
and now.

Take the leaf from out the table
The guests have all gone home
Just you and me if we are able
Once again to be alone

The emptiness that's in the silence
Grabs a hold our hearts
Wasn't it love we once relied on
Before alone came to play its part

Place the extra silverware after it's polished
Back inside the bottom drawer
We won't be needing it at all
For at least another year or more

The leftovers that we are left with
Is in not having much to say
About our missing wants and needs
With loneliness being the cutting blade

Make sure to put up all the chairs
Leaving an extra one behind
A seat where silence can sit and stare
At these lost and lonely lives

For thirty years now
We've penned this book
A mystery the direction
Each chapter took

With our share of laughter
In its comedy
Mixed with a few tears
But not in tragedy

Chapter one started
On the day that we met
Destiny?
After thirty years, I'm still thinking yes

We fit each other
Like a well worn glove
Bound together to each other
With the tight thread of love

In both chapters two and three
We got to know each other well
Before we decided we no longer needed
To be by ourselves

So we bought extra paper
Along with more pens
In hopes that we could
Write a family in

So in chapter four
We wrote in our first child
Stock of blonde hair
With a touch of heavens smile

Two chapters later
We added number two
With the cry of perfection
If I may tell the truth

All of the chapters following
Have been quite the read
A national best seller
To say the least

And it could not have been done
If it weren't you and me
Taking the time to write this book
Of our destiny

To this day my co-author
I'm still standing with
That beautiful girl I still love
That thirty years ago I first kissed

And whatever writings lay ahead
I'm sure those final chapters will be
The very best that we've written
My co-author and me

Joy.
That temporary high.
Fleeting feelings
in a short-lived life.
The rush that makes it
seem worthwhile.
A one way street.
Joy.
Intermittant peaks,
highs then lows.
All things in between
till you run out of road.
A dead end street
on a one way trip.
Joy.

r ~ 5/23/14