Forsaken

She met him on the path that led

up past the iron gate,

wrapped up in her winter cloak

could barely see her face.

He’d spoken of the future, 

and all the things he’d do

And promised that when he was set,

he’d come back for her, too,

The road to hell is paved 

with intentions that are good,

filled with ‘what ifs’, and some ‘maybes’
but not always with “coulds”

They could  have gone together

instead he went alone,

she waved  at him and smiled, 

he nodded and was gone.

But that smile was the last smile

to come upon her face

not knowing that the hug they shared, 

would be their last embrace.

Sometimes way leads on to way, never to return;

time is a not a given,  love’s lessons are hard learned.

So hold on tight to what you have

don’t leave to chance or fate.

trust your instincts don’t give in

tomorrow may be too late.

 

© Ginny Brannan 2024

Image credit: Joanne Davis, Bellows Falls, VT. Used with expressed written permission. 

 

*Prompted Poetry from D’Verse Prosery, January 15^th, 2024: to use the specific line, written here in “boldface” in a poem or story. Confessing that I saw the lovely image first, and wrote this piece around it. The boldfaced line comes from a poem by Dudley Randall called "Ballad of Birmingham" written in 1963 quite ahead of the death of Martin Luther King, about the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.

 Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." MLK Jr.

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OOPS! Apparently Prosery is more short story than a poem, of 144 words. I am not a short story person, although a poem can tell a story. And I blew it with 160 words! Guess I'll stick to what I am good at!