A True Love Story

I not only believe in true love, I was able to experience it twice. Once in high school and then thirty years later. Our second chance together only lasted seven months as her breast cancer returned and took her life. This is our story:

Where Have You Gone?

I remember those carefree days,

The girlish happy smile,

The  days of high school,

Where only our love mattered.

The bus rides to the games and back,

Trips to the river bridge where our thoughts were one,

The nights filled of passion in the truck,

The moonlight dancing off our sweat covered bodies.

Our paths parted in a sea of tears,

The hurt, the pain of the past,

Always just under the surface,

A flash of sunlight, a familiar smile met with pain and hostility.

The smile vanishes, the pain and hurt boil up,

Yet the feelings of love never lost only suppressed,

A trip to Tulsa,

A business card in a mailbox,

A phone call two weeks later and the past awakens,

The smile, the pain, the hurt, the memories;

pour in like a raging river out of its' banks.

Is it worth the chance?

Is it worth opening the heart again?

Is it worth another trip to the unknown?

The smile is the same,

The feelings of love spring up,

The past is forgotten,

The present and future are all that matter,

Or is it?

Seven months of life together,

We laugh, we cry, we love;

chasing children, sharing their lives,

Strawberry shake in the face,

Movies from a Galaxy long ago,

Steaks, chicken and seasonings,

grilled to perfection with love.

A snowball fight,

A walk in the white soft flakes,

A pause on the sidewalk,

We embrace, kiss long and deep

letting our bodies provide the warmth.

The diagnosis, it's back.

Consoling the daughters,

A call to the parents,

A call to the EMT'S,

The present and the future are slipping away.

The final hours of life,

Only the sounds of deep painful breathing.

The halls are silent,

Nothing but thoughts for thirty years circle.

The end is closing in,

The cancer is tracking its' deadly course.

A warm hand rubs a chest going cold,

The breathing has stopped.

The pain is flowing out of her face.

The Doctor comes in,

The verdict is quiet with compassion,

I'm so sorry, she's gone.

Where have you gone?

Life has come to a stop,

There is nothing that matters anymore.

A never forgotten love has been taken in the prime of life,

A bench in a cemetery with no one else around.

The tears pour uncontrollably,

We cry, “Where have you gone?”

A voice, soft and tender floats down,

“I'm fine.”

“Where have I gone?”

“Where there is no pain, no sadness."

"A place where the cancer has healed."

A place where mistakes of the past have been forgiven,

A place where I can look down to watch and help."

"A place where only love resides,

The place?"

"Heaven, that, is where I have gone.”