A Poet's Haven

I could not help but notice…
You see I always try to sit with my back to a wall,
and near a window, as old habits are the last to die…
It allowed me to observe everyone and everything
happening around me…

She was at least a hundred feet away,
and walking towards the hole in the wall
where I was doing brunch…
It was her hat that first caught my eye,
a what were you thinking kind of moment…

She started to walk on by, and then stopped,
and turned around and came on in…
Stylishly dressed with sensible shoes…
Everything about her, from the way she strolled in,
stood there for a moment and even the way she would
sit down could only be addressed as statuesque…

A woman who wore and showed her confidence
with the grace of a Queen with a smile too match…

She took a small table, as she looked the place over…
Her eyes held a beautiful smile, and they sparkled
long before her lips followed suit..

I heard it said once, perhaps from another life or age…
That when your eyes cross, if you can’t see her
immediately past the changing of the sheets
come morning you should walk away…

In the time it took to bring her a cup of tea,
I lived a lifetime in those eyes…

A voluminous courtship, extending through seasons…
Long strolls through gardens, and parks, sandy beaches
and fields full of wildflowers…

Culmanating in a wedding, she had planned from birth,
right down to the color of my suit as well as my shoes…
The size, style and shape of the ring…

Holding hands as we went through life, from the birth
of our children right on through their graduations,
marriages and grandchildren…

I saw us planting a tree in the yard of our home,
even though the kids would be in their teens before
it would support a swing…

And with every Christmas tree we would plant
another one to replace the one we used…

She would don a number of hair colors and styles,
I fell in love with each one, though it was
the shades of grey that blew me away…

It was always her eyes, they way they smiled
and sparkled throughout the years…

I’ve learned that the winds of time can be unkind,
and fate has a way of being fickle…

It was always the way they smiled… 

August 19, 2021

#passing, #love, #memories, #dreams