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Thursday, March 24, 2016

Heart's Way


by Michele Fry, © 1966
(Teen girl's angst on the loss of a first serious crush, gracious me, seems it was almost as bad as an actual breakup!!)
Oh my heart, please hear me!
Won’t you listen to my plea?
         Miami shores are gone now
         and the pounding of the sea
                           is far behind you.
                  That stretch of sand.
                           His warm, soft hands
                                             Please understand.
 
You’ll burst if you relive
each little word that passed between us
         from the first “How do you do.”
         until the last resounding echo
                           of a sigh.
                  No, please don’t cry again.
                                    Don’t cry.
                           Just say goodbye.
 
The beauty of his smile, his glance,
the way he held his glass.
         The moments shared between us
         that seem to last and last –
                           they’re in the past.
                  Don’t feel outcast.
                                    They never last.
                                             Let go your grasp.
 
You’ll be our life’s destruction
if you dwell upon the past.
         My heartbeat!  Can’t I reach you?
         You are throbbing even faster
                           than before.
                  I underscore –
                                    give up those distant shores!
 
There’ll be another chance,
Another love will come our way.
         Til then we have to live,
         to make a bridge,
                      to find a way.
                           We must portray
                                    some solidarity.
 
A half a smile to mask our pain
is better than a frown.
         We owe it to our friends
         to be heroic, not a clown.
                           But I can’t muster half of that
                  without support from you.
                                    We are a team.
                                             We share one theme.
                                                      Our self-esteem’s at stake!
 
My way is the only way . . . . . Ah,
won’t you hear me through?
         I fight with all that’s in me
         but as usual you defeat me
                           by a mile.
                  I’m in exile.
                                    Please reconcile.
                           Okay, we’ll rest her in the dark again awhile
 
Condemned by fate, I’m bound with you
to drown in lost love’s pain
         for reasoning alone is not enough.
         It can’t sustain
                            the will to live,
                   the will to give.
                                 The heart’s the source
                                               of all our incentive.