24 Carat Heartache Poem by Denis Martindale

The first time that I fell in love, she took my breath away,
As if there were not words enough, her beauty to relay...
So sweet of face with golden hair and smiles to melt the heart,
As if the answer to my prayer and God's most joyful art...

To think, God made her as she was, to tantalise and tease,
So that I'd feel a sense of loss the second love must cease...
She moved away, I loved alone, my love I saw no more
And when my heart became as stone, I asked what love was for...

A mere rehearsal, just for now, as if to pass the time?
Or just to lead you on somehow, temptation, sweet, sublime?
If so, I vowed no more, goodbye, good riddance to it all
And no more reason left to sigh, if I ignore love's call...

But love came calling just the same, no mercy could I find,
Each year new beauties to enflame, each decade left behind...
The loneliness still comes and goes, just like a Christmas cold,
Despite the fact, I'm sure God knows, I've got a heart of gold...