Woman in White

 

It’s a Friday night- pitch dark,

and I make my way to the park.

It’s windy, breezy, uninvitingly harsh,

and at times like this, I don’t expect much.

Walking slowly, clad in a trench,

X marks the spot- the usual bench.

It stood the same till today,

I sat, took a breather and lay.

The stars shine and sparkled,

they tease, laugh and twinkled.

Even the moon knows my tale,

she shed tears, dense, cold like hail.

I am partially the man I once was,

a big part of me forever lost.

Life has long abandoned me,

left me drowning alone in the sea.

I’ve first met her here,

20 years back, but still clear.

She wore white, a white dress,

sitting alone, crying and in distress.

I was young, in my teens,

full of energy, boastful and mean.

But the man in me hid at her sight,

I needed to approach and hear her plight.

She was shy, frightened, afraid,

looking at me, she said,

Please sir, please go away,

take all you wish, I know I can pay.

Ignoring them words, I looked at her,

by golly, she’s no ordinary girl.

Her hair soft like satin,

how soft? I can only imagine.

Her eyes were like pearls in the night,

brown, shady, yet so bright.

Her skin, delicate and smooth,

even that is understatement from truth.

And her smile, inviting and sweet,

blown me off my feet and planted a seed.

The seed is no more,

for there lies a tree, steady and tall.

The seed of extraction proved its worth,

becoming the righteous pillar of love.

Things changed since that eventful day,

to an extent, it made me say.

I love you chere, I always do,

and will you marry me, this hopeful fool?

The rest they say is history,

pure and true, no mystery.

My purpose of life has been found,

together, we had it all, we settled down.

Things were good, real good,

better then it ever could.

At night, in covers with my lover,

she whispered that she had another.

My life changed forever,

caught me in surprise, like a fever.

Never would I expected- never!

that one day I’ll be a father.

She’s in pain, in labour,

I pray, asking for his favour.

The doc came out holding my daughter,

saying; “sorry, we’ve lost her mother.”

My world fell to pieces,

everything I’ve built on, in titters.

A part of me lies broken,

taken from me, stolen.

I never overcame my guilt,

and for years, I’ve feuded.

Whether to end it or suffer,

but she’s still here- in my daughter.

On that grounds, I’ve lived on,

soulless with no shoulder to cry on.

The bench holds many fond memories,

and for 20 years, it listened to my stories.

A broken branch startled me,

so familiar, how could it be?

“Hello daddy”, she said,

“lets go home, its late”.

Taking her hand, I followed,

a mirror image unfolded.

She is so alike her mother,

and I still love her.

It was like once it was before,

a man and a woman, an encore.

And up above beyond the clouds,

a woman in white smiles proud.

:::The end:::

-DNPY-

(10/8/2006)

*notes: Chere= Dear (French)