She took you to places no one else had shown you
Feeding you tastes of exotic spices, baked
To perfection in dainty little tarts, she delighted
In teasing yours senses and laughing at your affectations
This waif of a girl in long skirts and lace bodice
Ribbons trailing from plaited hair, streaming around her face
She ran through meadows of your mind with a grace that now eludes you
While you grew fat on books and pretensions, she remained
Carefree and happy behind you, beneath your notice
Now that you had grown so pompous, though never quite forgetting
The joy of youth she gave you, those nights on a tattered blanket
Beneath a sky without judgement, she gave you
Her love and her innocence to please you, sate you, she gave
And you took without commitment, leaving her as you found her
Slightly mad and strangely angelic, laughing in your memory
As she baked her tarts and plaited her hair, alone she grew old but unfaded
Retaining her inner beauty, while you grew rich and bitter
With self contempt and nostalgia, for love once innocent, now lost
You can no longer find the places that she took you, only a hint of spice
Wafting in the air reminds you…and silent tears run easily
From eyes too late opened…of a love too late acknowledged
As they lower her casket into the ground, you cry, too late