Parting of the Ways

They met beneath the shades of night

     Out where ‘twas dark and still;

They tried to read each other’s eyes,

     As lovers always will.

He did not hold her tiny hand,

     Or kiss her as he ought;

But ‘neath the evening star they knew

     Just what each other thought.

He spoke to her in accents low,

     She answered him in turn;

The plaintive note in either voice

     Bespoke two hearts that yearn.

And then the unexpected came,

     And parted them, alack!

He swore, she screamed, then disappeared

     Into the night so black.

He went his way, and she went hers,

     No fond farewell for her;

A bootjack thrown from far above,

     Lay where the lovers were.

He went his way, and she went hers,

     To loneliness and pain;

Tradition says, and likely true,

     They ne’er returned again.

Oct. 27, ‘09