Failed Love (Sonnet) Poem by Richard St. Clair

In my mind she was a fervid lover
(More than just a nicely mannered friend)
Singing cloying songs from start to end -
What mysteries would she to me uncover!
A promise that she made me long years past,
Deceitful like a slot machine's false lever,
Was that she'd stay in my poor heart forever;
But now the fantasy has turned aghast.
Behold! my aged eyes in dry tears run
Like a dust storm o'er a long dried river;
Her memory was like a painful sliver
Lodged ‘neath a tender fingernail: I'm done!
I've learned to gently down the river row
And color all my nightmares indigo.