You Once Loved Me

There was a time; it seems so long ago,
And far removed from all that we now know-
A time forgotten, soon as it was past-
When I believed that love was meant to last.

As chapters pass and all the plots unfold;
The happy ending never to be told-
And I still stand on what was once our stage-
Stuck in the past, before you turned the page.

Still in the scenes those two young lovers played-
Unmindful of mistakes that would be made,
Or intervention from some bitter hand-
The things that I will never understand.

It’s such a stage, so beautiful a place-
Where lovers met, where all was but God’s grace-
And I’m still there, a solitary man-
With gone- my dream of any kind of plan.

I never dreamed that any witch’s brew
Could make a witch of one as kind as you-
Antagonists must come and play their part,
And leave you bitter too, without a heart.

You gave away your child, too much like me?
So innocent and trusting as can be.
A part of you that had to be denied-
The truth that only witches need to hide.

Your child and I are fine, you get some praise-
From one you did not love enough to raise.
But you once loved me, beauty still remains-
Your memory became our phantom pains.

John H. Bidwell