Love of my life – Part 6 - A poem

Love of my life – Part 6 – by P.K. Odendaal – May 2019

I was quite alone when she messaged my phone

Her photo was distinct and it made me to shrink.
I pretended to not see it was really for me
And kindly asked if she knew of the past.

Her answer was right and it gave me a fright,

just knowing it could only be for the good
As she left me cold in the days of old
After all these years of manifold tears.

She wanted no know how things with me go 

Also my life, my past and my plans at last.
I knew it would be hard for love to restart
To dig up the grave where I buried it brave
And killed it complete to make my life sweet.

But love always rebound when chance comes around

And leaps from the grave like a sonic wave
Without being invited as if it is frighted
And makes itself known quite out of its own
As the love we once shared in the times when we cared.

At first it was strange to notice the change

which came from my heart right from the start
But I realised quite soon that there was still room
For love and compassion at the end of that session.

Why it was so I still do not know

But a man is bound by the love he has found.
Still it bothers me so to move to and fro
As it never should be because we are free
To do what we wish with the mem’ry of a kiss.

I know that she cares much more than she dares

And that makes me burn to give her a turn
In order to heal the way that we feel
with the thoughts which I store for an excursion once more

If you're still in doubt what this is about

Stand still and consider what brought us hither
It won't be a shame to take part in that game
which is based on respect and the way we react
to love that comes round which can nowhere be found.

On this planet called earth which we roamed since our birth

Just to touch her soul and to make her life whole
From the wounds that she found when her love ran aground

To forget is not good if you still understood

that to try and to fail is at least to be frail
but to fail to try will let you ask why
You didn't just take the same old mistake
Or that it really felt good in the way that it should
Deliv’ring us from shame for the sake of the game

What the future still hold cannot be foretold

And nobody guessed what might be best
Still for me it is strange to love for a change
And not to know why I gave it a try.
In the strange way when fate appeared at my gate
To bring some respite and at last make things right
When we are anxious to know how things shouldn’t go
To relieve all of our pain for personal gain.
Of what was due because of what we went through
And all that we need is to be discrete
To sort out our fate before it’s too late.

As I wonder once more what life has in store

For me it seems to be only dreams
Built on a pyre that can easily catch fire
and turn into hate when alas its too late.

But I will not stop when love's round the shop

And that makes me quote on love's antidote
Written by another poet or brother
Gibran is the man who stirred this fan
In case we doubt what love is about
I quote from his work which is not quite absurd:

When love beckons you, follow him

though his ways are hard and steep
and when his wings enfold you yield to him
though the sword hidden amongst his pinions may wound you

And when he speaks to you believe in him

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden
For even as love crown you, so shall he crucify you
Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun
so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself

He threshes you to make you naked
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness
He kneads you until you are pliant
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast

....

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter. and weep, but not all of your tears.