Love And Words

late  night
thinking
too much scotch
remembering
the women I've loved
some
just for a night
some
forever
all gone now
most with others
love and words
not enough to hold them

for the best
I suppose
none would have lasted -

one so young
not yet knowing her mind
another hides still
in her church
behind her Bible
one filled with rage
touched by insanity
this one
this one I married
and yet
I loved her least of them all

what she took from me
what she denied me
what is forever lost to me -

my child
soon you would turn thirty
yet
you never took a breath
felt the sun warm your face
caught a snowflake on your tongue
never saw the love in my eyes
felt safe gently enfolded in my arms

I'm sorry
my child
that I never knew you
never gazed upon your face

I'm sorry

© Michael Shelby  2008