Soon Enough Poem by David Welch

Charlotte Wentworth married far too young,
to a man quite rich with old money.
It had seemed such a dream on the big day,
a year later it did not seem so funny.
He was a bore, and he cared very little
for his family, his friends, and such,
he cared for his cash, and his alcohol,
of both he could not get enough.

Left all alone in their Hamptons home,
Charlotte developed a wandering eye,
before too long she'd had her first fling
and moved through a procession of guys.
Until one of her lovers, a soldier named Rob,
started a stirring that went beyond lust,
unlike the others, she invited him back,
of his love she could not get enough.

They were so in tune, and not just in bed,
that she soon knew she was falling hard.
It didn't help that he felt the same,
she was his muse, his beauty, his star.
They kept stealing moments, more and more,
craving each other's soft touch,
no matter how often they snuck away
each knew it was never enough.

One day her husband, before he left for work,
said, "I know what you have been doing.
I saw the pictures taken by my private eye,
in the courts I'll make sure that you're ruined! "
But later that night, when drunk as always,
he smashed his Benz into a truck.
She played the sad widow, as was expected,
her ‘bereavement' fooled more than enough.

At the will reading another blow came,
in the prenup he'd hidden a line
that said she got nothing if she remarried
before the passing of five-year's time.
She said to Rob, "I've no degree, no skills,
and your soldier's pay isn't that much…
I know it hurts to ask you to wait,
already we have put up with enough."

He smiled and said, "I can wait patiently,
a marriage license is not what makes you mine.
For a woman to stay married to that cruel drunk...
you deserve every last penny and dime."
She moved into his house that very night,
in his arms she breathed in his deep musk,
for five happy years they went on this way,
thinking they finally possessed enough.

The wedding was planned for that fifth year,
but when it came Rob sadly did say:
"I'm being deployed, they're put us on alert,
I'm sorry love, but I must go away."
She was in tears, but what choice had they?
What could she do but curse their luck?
The wedding was postponed, and Rob deployed,
saying, "It'll be over quickly enough."

But conflicts drag on and for the next three years
Rob was stateside for only four weeks.
In that short time they made a daughter,
a little squirt that they named Genevieve.
Facing fire each day made Rob sport grays,
just surviving was brutally tough,
when his term was up he decided
that for his county he'd given enough.

When he came home he looked worse for wear,
and was missing two fingers on his left hand,
she ran to him, said in no uncertain terms:
"Tomorrow you're giving me that gold band."
At a justice of the peace they finally said their vows,
it was simple, but they were in love,
laying in bed that night, he said to his wife:
"This day couldn't come fast enough."

Eight years had passed, another girl was born,
but one day Charlotte felt short of breath,
at the hospital the doctor looked grim,
saying, "We've just got results from the test."
A cancer it seemed had gone undiscovered,
but they'd hit it with all their best stuff.
As the months passed she looked worse and worse,
the chemo just did not do enough.

By her bedside, with tears in his eyes
he said, "We have not had enough time!
After all the delays I thought we would be
growing old by each other's side."
She smiled weakly, and said to him:
"I know this is going to be rough,
but our girls need you, you are their world,
I know that you'll be strong enough."

When her day came Rob was a wreck,
but never did he leave her bed,
towards the end she looked up at him
and in quiet whisper she said:
"Do not be afraid of what is to come,
I'll be looking down from above.
What's a few decades compared to all time?
We'll have our eternity soon enough."

He said, "That day cannot come soon enough."