Remorse

I hear a familiar voice calling,

Calling from the used-to-be.

I feel a guitar softly thrumming

Serenades deep inside of me.

The chords vibrating within me

Summon dreams of long ago

Flowing down yearning years

With a longing that pains me so.

So why did I walk away

from what I hungered for?

Why did I pretend not to care

As I quietly closed that door?

All she ever asked was that

I return a modest part

Of the generous love she offered

From a free and open heart

Had I followed my true desire

I'd never have gone to war

And added such a burden

To a heart already sore

No standing watching helplessly

As people died in flames

No learning cold, hard lessons

Why war is not a game.

But, no, I had to go my way

Searching on distant shores

To find, aching years later,

I’d had all I needed, and more.

Memories of that lost love

are smothered by agonized cries

As shrieks from  burning villagers

Drown out my lover’s sighs.

I don't often think this way...

My soul can’t bear the pain...

And only very briefly

Do I allow that strummed refrain

To pulse ever so gently

behind my shuttered eyes

To a counterpoint of mortars

And a lover’s long lost sighs.

© 11/2/2005 Thurman P. Woodfork

Awarded 5 Nov 2005

Background Sequence by Wade Culbreath