The old man sat on the edge of the park bench

Rheumy eyes plagued by cataracts stared down

Shaky hands tried to hold the newspaper steady

Pretending to read blurred words with a frown

A thousand miles away an old lady sits on a veranda

Of an old converted Victorian Mansion up on a hill

A sign above the door reads Serenity Senior’s Villa

Soon the nurse will be by to give her a happy pill

Old lady hummed a song sitting there reminiscing

An old Sonny and Cher tune from years almost forgot

In her fading memories she could only recall one line

“love won’t pay the rent… at least I’m sure of all the things I got…”

Old man eyes close and he hears a voice singing

Lips turn to a smile that for so long he couldn’t find

The last of his life seeps serenely out of his aged body

“I got you babe…I got you babe” last thing on his mind

The passing nurse takes her pulse and calls the code in

In her last moment the old lady smiles in blessed serenity

The nurse wonders at the old ladies’ outstretched hand

As if she ‘d reached out for her lover in eternity…

Old man lays his paper aside, his mind wanders

A summer night on a beach so many years ago

He’d promised her someday they’d be together

Made love one more time beneath the stars aglow