The One I Let Go Poem by Stanley Coffin

We laughed we cried we kissed
I was so happy things I thought couldn't get any better than this,

I was young and this was new for I fell deeply in love with you,
We became inseparable you and I,
Wherever you went I went and that was fine as long as we just had us two,

Yet among the passion and bliss for me a feeling of restlessness did persist,
It became something that I could not ignore for I needed to see what was missing and maybe what was behind the other door,

I had this feeling that I needed to be free to see the world and what life held for me,
Was too young or so I thought to settle down…….I felt I had this need to run around,
I was at an age where I could not be told I thought I knew what life was about and this feeling I had to get right,

To me back then…..life was black and white there was no grey for I thought that I knew the way,
And this restless I felt I had to understand before I could ask you for your hand,

It was then that I broke your heart for without question my dear you'd love me from the start,
Believe me when I say that was hard to do you see my girl it was never you,

Happiness and contentment became my pursuit so I went left instead of right and you drifted out of my sight,
As I wandered through the years that feeling did remain times of happiness, times of pain the answer I still did not find,

Yet over the years while you were out of my sight you were never far from my mind,
For when you lower your guard in moments of regret you pause and painfully reflect…..of a dream of what could have been,

And In these moments when I'm feeling blue my memories they return of you, the softness of your skin, of that smile, the way you tilted your head and touched your ear, the way you walked and little things like the way you talked,
I close my eyes and there you are warming yourself by the glow of the fire that still burns for you,

At times in my mind you seem so real that your presence I can almost feel,
It's like your scent is everywhere in these moments that I've come to despair,

A dream of you where it's just us two ………and oh the memories are like gold just like our times of old,
Is this a dream I wonder or is this just a boys mistake then slowly I open my eyes and I'm wide awake,
I look around with hope that you'd be there but you're nowhere to be found,

Alas it is not true for it was all just my memories of you,
Memories like these still bring me to my knees and that old sense of regret hasn't left me yet,

I know I hurt you when I walked away I thought it best and that you'd be okay,
You see I'm not over you and I never will be…..my girl I spent my life looking for you and I now know you were it and you always were it…….where left should've been right I went the wrong way if only I could turn back time and change direction you'd still be mine,
Little did I know that with the passing of time….the hurt….it would become all mine,

To ease my pain I'd love to be able see you again and for the hurt I caused a chance to explain…..a moment of your time to see how you feel and to see if your feelings for me…..still remain,
Just once more to see if I could maybe reopen that door,

Memories of moments in time when happiness was on the line go right go left do what you feel is best,
I know now wandering life's roads in search of my happiness something was always amiss, empty pain, where there should have been bliss,

I have my pain and my regret have no one else to blame and I try to forget,
And my girl as you are wandering life's highways you pause…..look back and stare but you realize no one is back there,

It is in these moments you come to understand of your mistake of the love you did forsake and of the decision made by a boy young in mind and that you realize it is in these moments when you left your true love behind.