Love of my life – Part 12 – A poem

Love of my life – Part 12 – A poem by P.K. Odendaal – July 2019

When we come to the end of our present stipend

Do you think that by then it’ll be grief once again?
If we do not achieve some form of reprieve
For our desire to achieve something higher
Than just to be free from some human decree
Without any gain for the price of our pain

Just to be there to show that we care
Not for any reward or any points scored
But just keeping true to our own point of view
And never relenting but always consenting
To things which are designed to keep us entwined

So that in the end we don't have to pretend
That the love we once knew disappeared like the dew
There is some doubt all round and about
Of whether our desire will one day expire
And we are not sure how much to endure
Before we decide to once again hide
Our love and our shame and the extent of our pain

It is not our style to disappear for a while
Only to return one day to resume the play
to be here for a while and depart with a smile
If our effort to retry ends up as a sigh
For the benefit of none when all are undone

Then we must rather keep quiet to avoid a riot
and pursue feelings quite true
than to run wild as if we're beguiled

Still it’s my desire not to retire
from this passionate drive which keeps me alive
Hoping to claim some hint of fame
when this game is done and there is none
to ensure a reprieve of what we believe
is right and correct and full of respect

Love on, love on, from dusk to dawn
It makes you humane and help you regain
Some form of closure and keep your composure
it frees your spirit and all that is in it
it lets you taste which once went to waste
and it lets you abide with a lover at your side.