The Letter Poem by Michelle Tiddy

She's an old lady now
Who gazes out of the window
Counting the birds that fly by
Dreaming of the buttercups of youth
And the love she held, gone awry

Her watery eyes look to the sun
How she remembers feeling it
Upon her skin, drinking it in
And dancing without a care in the World
Those times have long passed.....

She gently caresses the treasure in her hand
The momento of her hearbreak so long ago
A tiny crumpled, yellow letter
That brought her lover to her soul
A lifetime ago, she let him slip away

Gently she smells the paper on which
Her soulmates words spilled to her alone
Told her how much he loved her
Couldn't be without her, needed her
Yearned for her, she places her lips on the page

And the lonely tear streaks her cheek
In the cruelty of 'what might have been'
If only she'd persevered in her quest
Her search for joy and devotion and happiness
She made the wrong choice, a bad decision

She slowly rises from her chair, trying hard
To hide her despair, whatever became of him?
Where did the twisting roads of life
Take him, lead him; into another's arms? ...
She's sure of that, he had charms

And dreams, and passion and a voice
That melted her heart and touched her spirit
She was scared, she'll freely admit it
Of the depths he reached, the way..
He could just make her feel complete..

She looks into the mirror and sees
A mixture of abandon, loss and false dreams
She only has herself to blame, her lack
Of courage and strength of shame..
That stopped her from running to her lover

The whitened hair belies the quickening of her
Heartbeat, that remembers his soft lips
Upon hers in the heat of the night
The feeling of sand beneath them
As they promised and betrothed their minds

The tang of the salty air is in her mouth
And she breathes in deeply, and feels him,
Even now at the end of time, when all the
Acts of life fall in line, and she knows
She lost the only one that made her a woman