Two Lives

                                    Two Lives

1958    She was 14 and I
          was 15 when we had
          our first date for a movie
          and a coke.
           
Hot summer nights in a small
      home town
When Elvis was all the rage,
Love comes so easily
At such a tender age.


            Enthralled,
            we explored and
            found each other.

Impulses of youth, so desirous
As lovers will extol,
Are surging tides of pulsing
        desire
Raging out of control.


1961    But then we lost the
            spark. Time wore off
            the newness and we
            wondered if it might
            be rekindled by others.

Regardless how hot may be
        the passion,
How intense the flame,
Youthful love will burn
        to embers
Till ashes only remain.

Vivid the memories, love's first
        heartbreak;
A young man yearned to roam,
And a winsome lass
        undauntedly cast
To venture on her own.


            And so we went about
            our lives, summer camps,
            college, new friends,
            new romances, rarely
            speaking, let alone
            seeing each other.

Moving in tangents, ever farther
        apart,
Wandering from friend to affair,
Each one sought with passing
        time
A newfound love to share.


1965    One Autumn day, far
            away and lonesome,
            I mailed her a letter
            asking if she would
            spend Thanksgiving with
            me if I sent her a ticket.
            She took her first airplane
            ride that Fall.

Destined good fortune, no fate
          could protest,
Bridged the yawning years,
And renewed love was found
          to fill
The chasm with joyful tears.


1966    We married the following
            summer. Between working
            and school, our families
            a thousand miles away,
            we held each other
            with no thought of loneliness.
           
As migrating birds surely come
          home to roost,
As surly as the sea
Returns to shore to find its rest,
A love was destined to be.


1968    The youth of our lives
            together. Children came
            and the sweetness
            flowed like a river,
            on and on out sight.
           
Amidst the flowers and
        occasional showers,
Two daughters in early Spring
Descended directly from
        heaven to earth
And taught the angels to sing.


1980     

Maturing love initially wrapped
Two hearts with warmth
        and wonder,
Then scaled the heights
        of bellowing clouds
That roar with Summer's thunder.


1998

Without care, in early Fall,
Thoughts can tend to sorrow,
But evening's dusk contains
        no dread
When hope precedes tomorrow.


2000    We saw the seasons,
            children came and left.
            We returned to where we
            started - just the two of us.
                       
Precious moments, Oh,
        so precious,
Fraught with earthly harms,
Pass as only comfort can,
In each other's arms.


2020    We still thrill at the sight,
            the touch, the closeness
            of each other - in our hearts
            the teenagers of all those
            years ago.

Oh, my Love, how can one bear
Leaving the other to pine?
My dearest Love, how can one bear
To be left behind?