The pain of lost love steels

Our hearts & minds as wheels

Turn - and the soul we have

Becomes marred with the stabs



And we cry quietly under sobs

Which make us shudder so and rob

Us of balanced and pondered view

As we writhe in our little stew



And those times which we shared

Whether over phone or body-paired

Are so vivid in the picture past

As we look back on it so aghast



And remember those stirrings

When we writhed with purring

And sensations came in spurts

When there was no pain or hurt



And we became one with shudders

As my heart did spin and flutter

And you smiled wide into my eyes

I believed you'd ever be my prize



And yet - just a few hours later

You made plans to go and greater

You saw not the goodness of scene

For you had another way of being



And left me on my own - and long

And now my heart has grown strong

And steels itself against a barrage

Of other pettiness which you regard



As so much higher in your esteem

Than words of love which do redeem

My soul with freedom from the stain

Of words which you utter out of pain.



- Tristram