Where Roads Once Were

This poem was inspired by a chance sighting of two couples during one of my daily lunch breaks.  One couple was visibly in love as they were engaged in an embrace during their lunch date.  Moments later, in the same vicinity, I witnessed another couple that seemed to contrast the first in every way, as a public argument ensued between them.  The contrast was quite poetic as I pondered the journey from one end of the love spectrum to the other.  The following is the resulting muse.

There once was a road named “Forever”

traversed by love-ladened drifters

burning with blissful abandon

entranced by the fragrant figment

of a fairy-tale ending

Their fingers intertwined

into a lover’s knot

reflecting the contents of a lover’s heart

The road so smooth

The path so clear

No cracks, no bumps, no potholes near

But lovers become strangers

as the sands of time

turn the “tic” of bliss

into the “tock” of burden

the pant…

of…

passion…

slows

The road named “Forever” dead ends

neglected by the feet of fidelity

Streets of gold

fade to dirt roads

fraught with the souls of arguments

that died in antiquity

being conjured up repeatedly

now haunt the contemporary

Love whispered in its infancy

“i’ll never hurt” you

“i’ll always love” you

But as love grows older

it tends to grow colder

shouting over and over

“YOU NEVER LOVED” me

“YOU ALWAYS HURT” me

and before hands can heal the wounds

words wound again

siphoning fresh blood from year-old scars

The pain decays but never really dies

as the golden vow lies

in the dirt

where roads once were

 

© 2015 Brian Evans.  All rights reserved

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BE

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