THE ROSE & THE THORN

Going back to the beginning

Where it all had started out

From the first time that he saw her

His love was not in doubt

He’d spied her in a cafe

Across the way from where he worked

Like a flower from God’s garden

No attending, had he shirked

This girl she was his beauty

A rose; and he the thorn

He looked at her with loving eyes

But she at him with scorn

He tried so very hard

To make her love him as he did

Sent her flowers to her work

Even helped her watch her kid

But this woman she resented him

Said he crowded up her space

Wanted to be left alone

“Back off from in her face!”

How could she be so heartless

After all he gave to her

Sent her letters every day

His emotions she would stir

Play him off like he was foolish

Said she didn’t want him there

But whenever she did see him

He would see her beckoning stare

This woman was a player

And a Mother, too to boot!

How could she act so brazen?

Such a tart; hot in pursuit

She rebuffed all his attention

But she flirted with her peers

He told her she should stop this

Made him mad; played on his fears

Cos he worried that he’d lose her

Though she wasn’t his to lose

His advances were not welcome

She never chose to be his muse

It was bad enough she suffered

His deluded, crazy mind

But to see her young son suffer

Was a step too far; unkind

The photography he crafted

Through the curtains of her home

She could never shut him out

Would never leave this girl alone

How could she be ungrateful?

Was this all the thanks he’d get!

Admiration for her beauty

Before they even met

No amount of hidden messages

Notes pushed through her front door

Would help him with this thankless task

He couldn’t take much more

He had to know her feelings

There was no longer a choice

A love this deep within his loins

She must now hear his voice

So a visit he did pay

To this woman in her home

Made her love him just as he loved her

No longer would she roam

Released from all his suffering

His sickened mind was now reborn

The rose plucked from God’s garden

Was now an ugly thorn ....