A Lover of Long Ago
By John Herlihy

There once was a lover of long ago,
Now but mist and faded mistletoe.
Abandoned amid all the dreamy waste,
Left behind in the wake of my haste.
On the throne of my love a pretender,
Inspiring an emotion I hardly remember.
My once-upon-a-time lover had another life,
As I walked along the edge of my own knife.

Yet your memory was never fully shaken free,
The watermark left behind is still a part of me.
Your memory still has the smell and feel of rain,
Awash somewhere in my parched soul, as a claim.
Never more invited, you only come on cloudy days,
I still see you, as you once were, there in the haze.
Some feelings never grow old, they are forever young;
Its song an endless melody that will always be sung.

I am old now, but certain memories still remain,
Filling me with emotions I will never fully contain.