Look Back, Look Forward (The Story of Love)

Those great loves you had

They were not failures because they are not still here

They were bookmarks

Defining moments in time

that made you who you are today

A way to remember

how badly you treated your first love in 1974

and how much in love you were back in 1981

when you were young and beautiful

and how abandoned you felt in 1990

when you left her for the other woman

and nobody backed your play 

and how silly it seemed in 2001

when you warned everyone about the beautiful temptress

but you married her anyway

and how they cheered for you in 2010

to win the brown-eyed girl

but her heart was somewhere else

Now you look back at all that love

not lost, never forgotten,

and then look forward and wonder 

if you have the strength for new chapters 

or if it's time to just reflect 

and be happy for what you were given

and go forward with your days

expecting nothing

Then, when you least expect it

there's a knock on the door

and you answer without hesitation . . .

. . . to be continued.

Ken Owen    Van Niddy Press    January 2015