-- THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER --

John Herlihy

He looked straight at her and was touched in his core;

All the waves of his life broke open and washed ashore.

Waves of happiness that had mounted but never crested,

Waves of sorrow as forlorn birds that in his heart nested.

The silence of all the loneliness he had lived with and felt,

Learning to be alone and accepting the hand to him dealt.

The comfort of all the solitude benefited from and endured,

The temptations of all the wickedness that within him lured.

All the efforts, all the failures, all those hopes and dreams,

All the turmoil and miseries to realize life not what it seems.

When he looked at her, his inner world simply washed away;

Determination to give her his love was what decided to stay.

She looked straight at him and was touched in her core;

All the waves of her life broke open and washed ashore.

The waves of her paranoia expired and gave up their ghost;

The recriminations that held their sway no longer played host.

A crowded life that filled her with loneliness now suddenly gone,

Learning to accept and live with herself, to hear her own song.

The miracle of this new relationship had now suddenly become real;

The dream had become the reality, allowing her to escape her ordeal.

All the lies, all the treachery, all the accusations and all the regret;

No longer existed, gone from her life, she could begin to forget.

The faded palette of her life now empty and free to throw away;

Determined to express her new-found love was what decided to stay.

For years they engaged thru e-mail, now for the first time, face to face;

Neither of them could fully comprehend what was finally taking place.

He looked at her and she looked at him; they both reached out a hand;

Only to withdraw it, take it back, it seemed only a kind of reprimand.

What could a hand do, extended out like that, come together to touch;

They felt this gesture wrong for this first encounter, they knew this much.

They then fell into each other eyes, held aloft by each other’s gaze;

Their eyes soon watered and filled with tears that spilled from the haze.

Locked into the beauty of the encounter, they simultaneously began to smile;

And smile they did, and laugh and smile, all in silence for a little while.

He about to speak but stopped; she about to speak but stopped, both hushed;

He kissed her finger put to his lips, to whisper: This poem must not be rushed.

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(c) John Herlihy 21 February 2019