NOSTALGIA'S TWINGE

How I weep for love, long lost.
Whose image shimmers through my tears.
Whose auburn curls so gaily tossed,
Grow more radiant with the years.
Years of sadness, years of sorrows,
Of fast, false hopes and lost tomorrows.

Despair surrounds me, anguish throbs,
And permeates my shredded heart,
That shudders and erupts in sobs,
Like Vesuvius torn apart.
Torn when love's sweet, soothing breath,
Became the fiery kiss of death.

"You can't return," a man once said.
"You can't go home again."

She may be old, or even dead.
Then all the dreams would wane.
For, although in reality, love can fade away,
Memories grow sweeter, with every passing day.

And so, I'll keep her in my dreams,
Where she'll be safe for evermore,
From time and toil and evil schemes,
From pain of strife and threat of war.
She'll dance through meadows by the sea,
And when day is done, she'll come to me.

R.T. Caldwell