Bait And Switch

It’s like it never happened, like it’s only in my head-
No happy ever after like those story books I’ve read.
Two people meet and fall in love- then go their separate ways,
But one of them is haunted for the rest of all his days.

My memories keep telling me the best of dreams come true .
I’ve loved her for a lifetime, was there something else to do?
I saw the look of fire she had, it’s now a cordial smile.
She went and caught a stranger and he walked her down the aisle.

It’s awkward to keep living on the other side of dreams-
And never fall for anything, for nothing’s how it seems.
I see her still from time to time, my heart pinned to the wall-
I guess that all this ever means is no one made the call.

I wish we knew that what we had was all that there can be.
But calling out a love like that was just too much for me.
I don’t know how this story ends, but too much time’s been lost-
We’ll hang our empty hearts up on the line we never crossed.

John H. Bidwell