was never my intent
to carry all this grief –
to bend beneath the load
of circumstance
hastened by the notion
my heart would never mend
would squander
every breath –
if given chance

such foolishness
I should have seen –
surely learned by now
the way love is
the way love works
to give
as we allow

but I won’t lie
I can’t pretend
there hasn’t been some pain –
learning as it were
to live again

haunted by a promise
whispered long ago
within the dark
an ember of the sun
is wrapped in sweet reminders
lest my soul forget
beyond this night –
another day will come

. . .