An Old Flame

AN OLD FLAME Her lips were electric, burning to the touch I hungered for them so much In an all-consuming passion for her In a fire dance leaving no ember It was the first and only time in my life A girl seemed destined to be my wife She loved me so. . . but then love vanished I had no idea why sudden it perished. Tried to hide the tears inside with a casual smile And say I didn’t think of her all the while. Try to pretend she was just another somebody. . . But in the hush of night her half-heard melody Repeating its strain of rift and loss Still pervades the dreams where I drift and toss Oh, her voice is like an unfinished song Whose chorus echoes all night long To the music still strongly burning. When comes her smile again amid my yearning - When I allow it to envelope me - It is cold flame, though a thousand degree - Still I find no answer among the remains of the pyre. Thirty years should have damped the fire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Written 7 June 2012 Entered in Gail Doyle's Contest Remembering A Lost Love