Story Poem #5

Thinking love knew no obstacle,

She had plunged into an affair with him,

Disregarding the fact he was still a child.

For a while, things ran smoothly in their lives

And she was sure her friends had been wrong--

Love didn't care how old (or young) you were.

Soon she found the little things that never used to bother her

Were grating on her nerves, making him nearly impossible to be around.

One day she screamed at him to act his age,

Then stood staring at him silently

As she realized he was.

© 1981 TDD

Story Poem #4

The young woman looks through the glass

At the newborn babies in the hospital nursery

And begins crying softly.

Once she had envisioned a different scene--

Shared in joy and love--

Taking place here, but that could never be.

Staring absently at her diamond ring,

She thinks of the letter that arrived this morning.

The letter said her fiance was gone--

A war hero, they called him,

But to her it all seemed senseless murder.

How could it possibly be true

When he'd only been away for three months?

She didn't even know if her last letter

Could have reached him in time--in time

For him to die knowing

He would have a child in six months.

© 1980 TDD

Story Poem #3

One in a world made for couples,

She always feels so out of place.

What can she do, where can she go,

When there's no one else she wants to be with--

No one really worth the effort?

Once she, too, was part of a duo.

For a long time, the two of them had everything;

There were walks in the moonlight,

Walks in the rain,

Long talks sharing their hopes and dreams,

And everything else the world expects of romance.

But what the world never counts on, it seems,

Is one of the pair finding someone else

They would rather be a twosome with instead.

When he came to her and asked to be set free

(Even though they had no strings),

She was so numb she had no answer for him.

Taking that for consent, he became engaged,

Leaving her to watch them in their happiness.

When they were married, she was there,

Tears in her eyes, to wish them luck.

Yet, as she hugged and kissed him one last time,

She couldn't help remembering the times

When she'd dreamed of this moment for them,

Never knowing how things would change.

Now, sometimes at night when she's lonely,

She thinks of him and says

"Wherever you are, darling, you know

You're the one I'll always love."

Then she holds her near

And cries herself to sleep;

One in a world made for couples.

© 1980 TDD

Story Poem #2

When the phone rings, she prays it will be him.

It is, and he says he can get away,

But only for a few hours. Will she see him?

She knows it isn't right,

But she has to see him, to be with him,

So he comes.

As they sit sipping white wine,

She keeps thinking of his wife.

Does she know what's happening--

That he's using both of them?

It all seems so unfair somehow.

Before he was married, she was his only love,

Then he saw that a marriage could help him get ahead

And he was wed, keeping her on the side.

Every now and then, the thought passes through her mind

That true love shouldn't happen this way,

But it goes away when he holds her and says

"Sweetheart, I love you so."

Yet it soon got harder to live

On all his empty promises.

One day she realized that,

Instead of leaving his wife to be with her,

He was falling in love with his wife

And letting her down easy.

Now she sits at home alone each night,

Knowing how his wife must have felt

Way back when.

© 1980 TDD

Story Poem #1

All by herself in that big lonely mansion

She sits by the fire, waiting for him--

Reads a good book, cheats at solitaire,

Takes another drink, still waiting for him.

Then she starts to wonder what went wrong.

What happened to the life she dreamed of having?

He was a young, handsome, hardworking doctor

And she was always the light of his life.

Yet, as he became more familiar with success

He seemed less familiar with his wife and her needs.

The nights he spent at home became fewer

As she realized he was being taken from her.

Not by another woman--she could have dealt with that;

The third side of this triangle was his career.

After too many nights alone in the mansion,

She knew all too well what she had to do,

So she packed her clothes, went back home

And one day married the boy next door.

They shared their love for one another

And, though they never had much money,

She felt richer than ever before.

© 1980 TDD