One night, while walking in drear solitude,
Delicious thoughts of love dared to intrude;
Soon they overtook like a climbing vine
And I felt a warm hand slip into mine,
Then a kiss gently brushed against my cheek,
But not a word of protest did I speak;
Desire and common sense started to brawl,
Then a shadowy figure confirmed it all;
As I walked faster the shadow kept pace,
Dare I look directly into its face?
It mattered not what that look might reveal,
Love from any source is welcomed with zeal;
On I walked in a delirious state,
Convinced some angel had altered my fate;
The moon had been observing this strange scene,
Judgmental, determined to intervene:
"Foolish woman! you're born to walk alone,
That shadow that stirs your heart is your own!
You're beguiled by dreams that can never be,
End this pretense and face reality!"
How cruel of the moon ...... and I told him so;
The curtain fell, and thus ended the show

How the thirst for love can rack the heart!
"Just a drop will do," it softly screams;
Ah, but what solace could one drop impart
To this torrid wasteland of parched dreams?

My gasping heart is struggling for breath
As panic stirs the dust of despair;
A cry for compassion (a plea for death?)
Leaves my lips as I kneel down in prayer

But prayers do not comfort my distress --
Pleadings turn profane upon my tongue,
Prodding me to silence my loneliness
And trudge on with my sorrows unsung

But my thirsting heart begs to be heard,
And its yearnings I dare not suppress;
(What inspires these rhymes and each dauntless word?
The obscure blessings of loneliness!)

Loneliness and its unsated thirst
Cause thoughts to take flight on tattered wings,
And the rationale of a heart accursed
Results in the worst imaginings

Now the hour's late, soon my sun will set,
Hope is waning like a smoldering fire,
And my thirst for love now provokes regret
For each empty dream and vain desire

My search for love was an ill-fated dream
That drifted on the wings of despair
As Life slowly unveiled its tragic theme ---
And so it found its destiny there

As I wandered the Trail of Solitude
Down that footpath so well-known to me,
A tender "I love you" dared to intrude
Upon my intense melancholy

I reeled upon hearing Love's treasured words,
Thinking they were intended for me;
Desire bolted like a flock of wild birds
Obeying the call of destiny

Seeds of love lying dormant in my heart
Suddenly burst forth into full bloom;
From the lonely caste I'd been set apart,
Filling the air was Love's sweet perfume

But haste is the enemy of a heart
Wandering in the Garden of Despair,
Toward that tree laden with fruits it will dart,
Ignoring the signs that warn "Beware"

A starving heart will perceive a grand feast
Where only a few crumbs have been tossed;
By the time the pangs of hunger have ceased
Common sense and caution are long lost

What joy to think Love had found me at last
And despair had taken its last toll!
But long ago the fateful die was cast
And my name erased from Heaven's scroll

Now hope and dreams have long since turned to dust,
Yet, this moment haunts my memory;
Love had come so close ...... Alas! it was just
A case of mistaken identity

When I seek asylum from distress
And Love gently takes me 'neath its wing,
I'm numb to the pain of loneliness,
My heart becomes immune to its sting,

Fleeting are the memories of sad tears
Cried in moonlit hours of solitude
While a host of feathered balladeers
Offer their orchestral interlude

I vaguely recall the sleepless nights
That were spent soothing my anguished heart,
Forcing my spirit to soar to heights
Where angels their mercy might impart

No longer is my fate predicted
In the sad song of the mourning dove;
I'm drugged .... and hopelessly addicted
To the divine ****** that is Love!

Tell me what things you've seen, Brother Moon,
From your outpost at the top of the world,
Stories of lovers' trysts cause me to swoon .....
Please relate how Cupid's arrows were hurled

But tell me Friend, what else do you see
When you scan the four corners of this globe?
Do you sigh viewing man's iniquity?
You've earned the right to wear the judge's robe

Does our intolerance cause you pain,
Does our wickedness ever make you cry?
A pity our dragons have not all been slain ---
You witness it all from your perch on high

But perhaps you might take a minute
To recall if you've seen my darling boy;
You know, my world's cold, there's no life in it,
Without his love my heart can find no joy

Please, won't you help me to find my man?
One winter morn he left without a word;
But how foolish of me to think you can
Possibly keep track of each fallen bird

O, let the stars tumble from the sky!
What do I care if the moon turns to stone!
Without someone to love what need have I
Of heaven's jewels if I must walk alone

Forgive me if I've broken the rules
By cursing the heavens for my despair;
Mortals are no more than a crew of fools
On a ship that inflates its sails with prayer

No longer will I burden the air
With prayers whose replies are long overdue;
But dear Moon, is there hope in my despair .....
Or will my lonely nights be spent with you?
And then the moon gently caressed my hair,
Reaffirming what I already knew

As I watch Autumn glide into Winter,
Sparse are the fond memories I invoke,
Just a fragment here, and there a splinter,
But Love left not one ember to stoke

Hopes and dreams that held promises of Love
Hang like withered fruits upon the vine;
And my heart, like the solitary dove,
Mourns for the love that never was mine

As the hourglass marks the eleventh hour
I watch anxiously as the sand falls;
Loneliness wields its consummate power
While Death impatiently walks the halls

Is there time to right this egregious wrong ---
Will Fate discipline its heart of stone?
Before the last refrains of my swan song
Might I yet ascend Love's golden throne?

Only Fate foreknows all that's yet to be,
But it has no voice with which to speak;
Silently it walks toward eternity
Veiling the havoc it may yet wreak

If only to alter Fate's fickle mind
And beg Time to walk a slower pace,
The days yet to come might be redesigned
To show me a more merciful face

And each path I take might be strewn with flowers,
When I bet on Love, I just might win .......
Ah, what futile dreams fill these lonely hours,
Trying to calm the churning hell within!

I watched love take wing, swooping in constant flight,
Seeking a heart upon which it could alight

I watched Love clamoring for recognition,
Begging to be claimed without inhibition

I watched Love floundering in desperation,
Wearied of its flight with no destination

I watched Love grow weaker with each passing day,
Pleading for sustenance to keep death at bay

I watched Love yield to its frail mortality,
Defeated by the truth of reality

I watched Love succumb, forlorn and rejected,
Now it's dead ..... never to be resurrected