Friday's Whims of the Time Traveler 62.0: July 11th, 2007

Lover's Game
by Belinda Roddie

When I found him, he was barely breathing

But his heart was raging in a mad symphony

And his hand was out as if he were reaching

Toward the moon upstaging his silhouette in the grass

I lifted him carefully, as if he were made of glass

And moved to save him from his mind’s cacophony

While he slept, I perused his gentle features

And I was reminded of what pervaded his senses

How could it be, in such a man I called my teacher,

A beast resided in what used to be good dreams

And silently, but with wrath, ripped them at the seams?

So I moved to answer and resolve the question

But alas, the beast could not be easily tamed

I was not the chosen conductor for this elegy

So for the rest of the night, I let him sleep

And his mind play the foolish lover’s game

As he woke, I retained a modest distance

For, though I did lead him to his recovery,

I felt it not in my place to touch, but listen

As ears could gently heed him when fingers did wrong

And, though his tired eyes could not remain open for long

I saw he had perceived then my presence and said to me:

“My child, when you found me I was barely breathing

Though my heart was singing of old romance

Which I had learned from girls truly misleading

But you, for bringing me here, I thank you for your actions

Though I do not appear or feel as placid

As the tide which, in morning, the sun caresses.

I have a beast that cannot be easily tamed

Dwelling in my heart, causing this cacophony

But I shall compose it into a symphony

If you, my student, watch me fiercely maim

The monster in this foolish lover’s game.”

The work you see here has not been edited nor altered since July 11th, 2007.