Goodbye, My Beloved

He was kneeling all alone in the graveyard

Keeping vigil at her final resting place

Paying his last respects to his beloved one now gone

His tears were falling freely on her headstone

His voice rising to the heavens as he cried aloud in anguish

Why?

Why was she the one to go?

Memories of the love they once shared came rushing in upon his mind

 Those tender kisses and sweet caresses

All their shared hopes and fragile dreams

 He could still see her golden hair shining in the sunlight

Hear her glorious laughter bubbling out with delight

Gaze into her vibrant eyes that showed such love for him

Thunder crashed suddenly above him

Shattering all his sweet reveries

Brought him back to the days of blackness

Demanded he remember only the pain and loss

Rain came pouring down from the heavens

As if  to drive him from her side

Forcing the bond that once was, now to break

The man fell prostrate to the earth

Clung tightly to the headstone

Vowing to weather the storm with her

Tried to shield her from the pelting raindrops

 Regrets burst in upon him like a flood

Washing away the golden memories of before

In his mind’s eye now he saw her

A fragile frame laid upon a bed of suffering

Her dancing eyes now dull and vacant

 Those golden strands turned frail and gray

Moans of pain replacing laughter that once had been

Gone were the tender kisses and sweet caresses

Replaced now with confused looks and repeated questions

Who was he?

Had they ever met before?

He pleaded with love for her to remember

Begged her to recall

Told her over and over the story of their love

Sat by her side for hours on end

Holding her hand in his as long as he could

But death was determined to break them apart

It would not hear of a love enduring forever

With cruel hands, it robbed his beloved of her health

Turned her memories into madness

Blinded her to the sight of him

The one she had always called her husband

And he had to sit  there silently

Hold his tongue and allow death to have its way

 His  oft shed tears were to no avail

Begging for mercy fell on deaf ears

Death was ready to snatch her away

Eager to have her as its prey

And on a beautiful autumn morn

She slipped away from him without a word

Her very last breath he never e’en heard

When his eyes once heavy with slumber finally opened

He saw what death had done

 Stolen his beloved wife away

Leaving him the heavy price of unbearable grief to pay

Now here he was in the graveyard

All alone facing a life without her by his side

If he could have saved her from the grave she now was in

How he would have relentlessly tried

The rain that once fell round him now ceased

Thunder no more sounded in the skies

A glimmer of sunlight streamed out from behind the dark clouds

Resting briefly on her headstone

With trembling fingers, he traced the graven words

Brushed away a few minute specks of dirt

 And pressed his lips to the cold  headstone

The only kiss  he could give her now

He straightened the beautiful flowers laying upon the grave

Slowly rose from kneeling on the cold wet ground

Reached for his worn wooden cane lying close beside

 And painfully rising with unsteadiness to his feet

 He dared to take one last look behind

And heavily, so heavily he sighed

Whispered with trembling lips and tears

Goodbye, my beloved