I'll admit I'm a romantic: I believe in true love, and happily ever after.
Howevah . . .
When love and fate mesh, it is a wondrous thing. But so much can go wrong, even if we are careful. Here is a wistful look at love, destiny, and the vagaries of fate that I wrote quite a few years ago.
THE SUBSTITUTE
There are those whose lives are meant to be entwined,
Lovers thrust together by the force of destiny,
When choice and fate converge, that they may be
Connected at the soul, the heart, the mind.
Within their closed circumference one can find
Two curves in perfect fit -- his yang, her yin,
That in each cycle once again begin
To cluster into love's sweet spiral bind.
But consider -- if in the vast span of infinity
One of them becomes displaced in small degree;
Is born a decade late, perhaps is sent
To the farthest corner of the continent --
The distant echo of an unfelt touch, an unseen face.
Who will be the one who comes to take his place?
~~:~~
reduced to a haiku-shaped word cluster
come to me my love
you who would complete my soul
not a substitute
Sometimes the perfect one isn't perfect, maybe the substitute fits well too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a romantic... don't believe in a soul mate... love is hard work... that said, I love the way you weave the possibility of one made just for you. It is a nice thought
ReplyDeleteOh! I am going to paste this in to my computer folder titled: Poetry by Others, a rare occasion, I might add. I have thought about this....well, since I was a little girl and used to pray for my future husband in Ireland. How a kid can think like that is a puzzling thing. But your poem thinks like that too, and so I am much less puzzled and much more consoled and even in awe. So love this!
ReplyDeleteyeah... stuff to think about for sure. who would? what would? woulda coulda shoulda. i like this.
ReplyDeleteI can't follow Lydia's comment; it's too cool. I can only echo it.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work!
ReplyDeleteWho will be the one to take his place... an angle I'd never seriously considered, and you made me ponder it. That, fellow writer, is effective work.
ReplyDeleteI think I felt this poem every time I was away on orders... I, too, believe in love and happily ever afters. But there is always that little monster, lurking, whispering, "But what if..."?
ReplyDeleteBrilliant.
I guess only time will tell. I have been blessed to find the one I was meant to be with. We have been married 44 years.
ReplyDelete