Love Poem: Redux
Andrea Doherty Avatar
Written by: Andrea Doherty

Redux

I found a box when my mother died
And saw the me I was inside.
Big blue eyes and auburn locks,
Rolled up skirt and blue knee socks.

Glee club programs, old year books
Awards and rings tucked into nooks.
And there, a picture of a boy
Who filled my teenage years with joy.

Jeans and tee shirts, hockey skates,
Rock and roll and concert dates.
A soul that made my young heart sing-
First love, first kiss, first everything

As we grew up we slipped apart.
For other places we’d depart
To different schools and different lives,
On to lovers, husbands, wives.

But sometimes I would feel regret.
Years passed and I could not forget.
I’d wonder what he’s doing now -
The where and when and why and how

Fate intervened one Fall and then,
We found each other once again.
I met him on the street one day
And forty years just slipped away.

And right away with no surprise 
I saw the boy in the grown man’s eyes.
Our fingers intertwined. The thrill
Told us that we were in love still.

We strolled around that day and kissed,
And spoke of all that we had missed.
Though the happiest we’d been in years
I knew that it would end in tears.

The old desires stirred up anew,
But we knew what we had to do.
Aware some lines must not be crossed
Because there’d be too great a cost.

We left each other and slept alone
Each with a spouse in a lonely home.
To dream of things that might have been
And hope that we cross paths again.

I cherish my handsome rock and roll boy
Who gave a young girl so much joy.
By loving the girl with the auburn locks
The rolled up skirt and blue knee socks.