The Temptation Poem by David Lewis Paget

‘I would if I could but I can't, ' he said,
‘Though I know it would be sublime,
I'm spoken for, and it does my head
To think that you could be mine.
I made a vow, and I don't know how
I could break it, and feel right,
But though I'm true, I'm thinking of you
As I do, each sleepless night.'

He shook his head and he walked away
As she clutched the verandah rail,
She turned her face away when the trace
Of her tears had left a trail.
‘I don't know what the attraction is, '
She said, as she wiped her eyes,
‘But it must be true what I say to you,
Anything else is lies! '

He walked back into his hotel room
And held his head in his hands,
And as he did the temptation grew
For a taste of contraband.
She'd met him there as she always did
For she serviced all the rooms,
His monthly trip, and her heart would flip
As the day of his coming loomed.

And he would think of her sparkling eyes
The set of her moist, pink lips,
Her flaxen hair and her pointed stare
And the sway of her virgin hips.
Her image was burnt upon his brain
Though he still loved his woman too,
It left him sore and confused, he thought,
What was a man to do?

He fell at last in a deep, deep sleep
And Rhianna entered his room,
She saw him peacefully lying there
Quite unaware in the gloom,
She lay down quiet beside him, just
To see how it felt to lie
Next to the one that her love was on,
He woke, his hand on her thigh.

The silken feel of Rhianna's thigh
Had put him into a trance,
He thought that a dream had come to life
Til he opened his eyes, by chance,
Her lips were hovering over his brow
Her flaxen hair in his face,
Her strange perfume permeated the room,
He rolled off the bed in haste.

‘I would if I could but I can't, ' he said,
‘I need you to understand,
If I were free, with just you and me
But I'm not, and this wasn't planned.'
He left, drove home in the early dawn
To arrive unexpectedly,
And saw the light in the bedroom on,
His woman had company.

She wept as the man had gathered his clothes,
And made poste haste for the door,
While he just stood as if turned to wood,
His feet fast glued to the floor,
‘Well, you're always off on your travels, John,
You must consider my plight! '
‘That may be so, ' as he turned to go,
‘But I know where I'll sleep tonight! '

11 January 2015