I Wore the Ring......

Youthful outlooks miss the view and reality hides in the open.
We started out together faithful and strong and through the years I kept hoping.

Hoping for a chance at more than romance,
hoping for the stuff of dreams.

Through desperate years and foolish tears I ran the gambit of effort.
Try as I might I couldn’t produce it, yet I still wore the ring.

Clouded opinions and harsh observations left me feeling alone. Black and white are so hard to define when your house is really not your home.

Working hard at our lives and waiting for children that seemed would never arrive. Between new clothes to wear and more crosses to bear and even more new cars to drive. Looking for smiles from the faces of partners, smiles that it seemed I could never bring.

In spite of it all and when all seemed so hopeless, I still wore the ring.

The children came to us first one and then two, beautiful babies they are. Their hair is flaxen, their honesty so pure and their eyes are shimmering blue. What joy they bring me, how I love to hold them, to feel their breath on my skin. To shield them from hurt and from all of my losses is a fight I just cannot win.

My heart cries at night when I see them in slumber, to watch them and never be seen. To touch their faces in quiet dark places and realize I can’t wear this ring.

To take it off is admitting that I cannot do, the one thing in life that should last. For me to go further, to stay here any longer is a ballot that I cannot cast.

So how do I leave? Can I just walk away? Can I leave everyone and everything? For the sake of the vow I have to leave now. Because of the vow I cannot wear this ring.

I promised to hold and to cherish none but one. I promised to love and protect. When the love is used up and the sweetness has gone then I hold in my hand what is left.

A simple gold band, passed from hand to hand, given with a tear and a smile. It was my definition of forever, my hope for tomorrow, my fuel to go one more mile. A bond unbreakable, forged and final, a symbol of a precious thing.

But when love had all gone, and sorrow replaced it I could no longer wear the ring.

*** Copyright 2/2002 Tim R. Rouse ***
Some of these are pretty tough, I hope you like 'em