Another I, Another You

It's Fireblossom Friday at Real Toads and Shay has devised the most intriguing prompt: looking back, at possible parallel paths one might have taken, what might your life have looked like if you had made one different choice? There was one definitive moment in my life, with the one man I truly loved, where I walked away instead of staying. That is my biggest What If.........I put my children first, which felt like the choice I had to make. But I have been mostly alone since then, never found another I felt the same about.

What if, Brother Dreamer,

I had followed my heart and stayed,

instead of leaving?

Might we have made it 

through those years

of clamoring teens,

who turned our tables upside down

with their restive and resistant spirits,

that blew apart our dreams?

I walk back through that door

on Richter Street,

and find you in the greenhouse,

where we would always meet.

A small bird flies across the room 

and lights in perfect trust

upon your hand,

you turn that slow smile on me,

without words, 

we understand.

Our hair is silvery now,

and our eyes meet

with that deep recognition,

soul to soul,

that I felt the first time

 I ever saw 

your face,

as if I knew you from

another time, another place,

and finding you again

was this life's grace.

We two are loners

and, when loners love,

the love goes deep.

You had awoken me

from my long sleep,

but happiness, this life,

has never long been mine

to keep.

You opened the door 

of the dove's cage 

on that last day.

Out she flew, 

upwards and away.

Out I flew, too,

though I longed for you

to say the only words

that could make me stay.

And while my heart, 

all these long years,

stayed true,

I had to learn the route

of the lonelier path,

of living

without you.