Words

I learned today that my lover could speak

I thought his words would be soft and sweet

But they were ragged for the things I had done

They were broken for the things never won

Tears flowed freely for his absence of choice

Why did I not know that he had a voice?

Too consumed with my own to care?

Too busy holding him in my arms – stroking his hair?

I soon sent him away, he gave me reason enough

And found someone new with a voice not as rough

A few chapters in and these new words repelled me

So soft and syrup sweet, designed to impel me

They were not real, rehearsed over and over

I was not the first to be this man’s lover

So I left on my own, and went to the street

I longed to find him who had spoken to me                           

I longed to hear his words - broken, ragged, and weeping

Now it’s been twenty years, I’ve searched without sleeping

I’ll search twenty years more, I won’t claim a home

Just to find my only lover with a voice of his own