Tucked away in the edge of the trees
Roses round the door
The old greyish thatched roof
A haven for small birds and little things
The old couple who lived there always had a smile and a kind word
They didn't have much else living on just their pensions
I used to walk past there and always there would be the aroma of fresh baked bread
A home made pork pie cooling on the window ledge
Occasionally as a kid I would go round and feed their chickens
Collect the eggs
My reward a home made cake and a mug of sweet milky tea
As they grew older and more frail
I would dig over their vegetable garden
And saw a few logs
But that old man was fiercely independent and still insisted
On doing much of the work himself
Then one wet foggy day I saw the ambulance heading to the cottage
He had collapsed and died near the front door
Natural causes they said
The old lady died just two days later
That old couple had been together for more than seventy years
Together in life and wouldn't be separated by death

I left my broken heart in a box outside your door
But you left it in the freezing rain
Each widening crack as the ice seeped in
Led to one more nightmare
Another shattered dream
We had it all my darling
At least I thought it so until my money ran out
Then it was my time to go
Is that truly what it was all about
You had everything you ever wanted
Until the cash ran out
So was that all you wanted
The good life I once could give
You said you truly loved me
That I was the reason that you lived
Now my shattered heart lies outside your door
Frozen by the bitter winds
And each and every lonely night
My sleep is haunted by one more shattered dream

While introspecting
I came closer, to myself
Being distanced
I forgot the language
In which scripts were written
Became myopic
And veered farther
Enjoying being away
Lost in the din
Never realizing
I was being swept away
From myself
While my soul yearned
For a rendezvous
I was oblivious
Seduced by the glib talkers
Became gullible
And yielded to the manipulations
Was a hallucinating ride
In the scariest roller coasters
Mind in a jumble
Entangled in the web of lies
Now, I have come back
From the brink of oblivion
To myself
Once more to listen
To my soul and heart
A union
After a struggle