Bargains With Time Poem by Sally Sandler

So bare and unprotected was your heart …
you asked me softly, pausing from your thought,
to "Care for it—the only one I've got, "
and I accepted, knowing that we'd start

to bargain, in our silent way, with time.
We'd bow to history, build our summer days
with bridges from the past, our debts repay,
and hope it bought a few more years sublime.

And so I held your heart (and you held mine)
with wonder—surely magic! —in my hand,
and dreamed each day together, every second
would linger, from the bargain made with time.

But seasons passed, and autumn turned its head,
and time did not abide by vows unspoken.
Winter looked in on your empty bed,
and time didn't care our hearts were broken.