For Kayla...

My friend shared this beautiful poem with me that he wrote for his lovely daughter...

I thought there might be a few lil things you art to know

The love I have for you will always grow

Everyday you are in my thoughts

Everyday you should think on the things I taught

Somedays will be harder than others

Some nights will last forever

The love a father has for his daughter

The times he is not with her

And the days he does not kiss her

All the days that were

Now he sees her grow

And soon he will see her go

Away to be with someone else

He will be alone, left to himself

But all the times they had

Thinking of those days will make him sad

Now into a new world she steps

To make her mark on the world she must

The things he taught now he must trust

But still his love for her continues to grow

Even though she does not know.

Written by the elusive poet:  Fatty

copyright Mike Dubea 2011, all rights reserved

Once upon a time...part two

In our previous fairy tale we read of the wounded pair...our story continues with the return of the King...

Softly, so gently, the voice she loved spoke through her ear straight to her heart. Or so it seemed, as hungry as she was for those loving echoes.

There were moments of bliss, explosions of tranquility that while a confusing dichotomy, felt like the most healing balm on torn skin. But those moments can never last. They are glimpses of perfection, never meant to be permanent because people simply aren't perfect...they both were the same wounded people they had always been...

...but in the King's eyes, his flaws were justified while hers were unforgivable. Somehow it never seemed that her efforts were enough, that he always had an answer that involved her taking all of the blame, no matter what the problem was that arose.

The weight of that burden stooped her shoulders, but she tried to carry it. Hiding, planning, always to try to give him what he wanted...always failing.

Until one day she fell.

She simply fell.

Unable to press onward, she let the burden roll from her back and lie there next to her in the mud where her tears mixed with the dirt beneath her.

He was once again off somewhere in the Kingdom, unavailable to the Lady he professed he would give his life for.

For one who claimed to be so in love, his release of her came so easily...her essence slid from his grasp with nary a trembling effort to hold on...

...and her heart crumbled to pieces on the breast of Mother Earth.

She awakened to suddenly realize she had drifted into an exhausted sleep. She had only limited strength left...she had to decide which elements of her life to carry with her on her journey onward: the heavy load still resting where it had fallen from her weary shoulders, or the pieces of her heart that might still have a chance to mend.

She thought a long time, for this Lady was deeply in love with her King...through the dark hours of night she considered her actions and the irreplaceable value of her own soul. Eventually the sun rose...

...and she gathered the pieces of her heart, carefully placed them in a soft flesh bag where they could gradually re-fuse. The process was painful, as torn tissue always hurts when it begins to heal...but the pieces were safely tucked in the flesh bag and soon became warm again.

She hoped her King's heart was warm.

She had no way to know.

His total absence was more deafening than the roar of the ocean.

She wondered if he realized the devastation such silence causes...

...she suspected he did not.

And she was sad...

And she walked on...

And the burden lay on the ground behind her as she turned her face to the light of the new morning...

...and she walked.

Once upon a time...part one

Once upon a time in a land very near to where we now stand, there were two wounded people.

The wounded lady had been hurt deeply by someone she pledged to love forever, but she didn't want to give up on the dream of loving just that one person for the rest of her life.

The wounded man was full of love and life, and had searched for some time for the lady who would walk through his days with him, share his dreams, and grow old with him...but he had not found her.

One day, the wounded lady and the wounded man met. It was not love at first sight, rather a long-forming friendship that blossomed into a beautiful love that seemed like it could never be stopped. They wed, and life moved forward...but they were both still wounded, they just didn't know it.

A beautiful son was born to these two, and the joy he brought to their lives was indescribable. But the sweet boy left earth to reside with the angels one early morning, leaving his Mama and Daddy desolate and more wounded than ever.

Disaster struck.

Vengeance, Pride, and Superiority all met and conspired to destroy the wounded and grieving pair in order to make a famous name for themselves. The sad parents clung to their love, penned letters built on loss and despair, and hoped for a bright future...and hoped...and hoped.

Their battle eventually ended with the wicked Trio convincing the sweet boy's parents that they should just bow to their authority and  live by their rules, which the couple did. 

One day the Mama could not find her man...she looked high and low but he was nowhere to be seen. In his pain, he had run away and sought solace in oblivion...and her heart broke again.

She missed him, but she was so angry. How could he leave her this way when she was hurting, too? How could he add to her pain by giving her cause to worry and fear over his safety, when she was already battling demons in her own soul?

She said mean things to try to hurt him as she felt she had been hurt.

She tried to get him to let her know he was even all right.

She forced herself to say the dreaded words, "I'm finished...I'm leaving...goodbye".

And she cried.

And cried.

And cried.

Tears he had been telling her she needed to shed now fell in cascades down her lonely face...but he would never see them.

He chose to stay away...he preferred his oblivion to staying at her side as he had promised.

She broke promises, too...she did not respect a man who made such choices, though she had long ago promised she would always respect and honor him.

Still he stayed away.

And her heart continued breaking.

Oblivion called her, too.

Called.

"Run", came the call...

Run...

Run...

Run...

Until you fall.

Alone.

The story ends here.

No shining clarity, no hero racing in to save the day.

Just two sad, wounded people.

Still grieving...

still alone...

and her still wondering what she did wrong to make him leave her in her pain.

The end.