Poem: So Long Ago, The Story Goes

 So Long Ago, The Story Goes

 

On his porch he rocks,

hat pulled low,

covering wary eyes,

nervous tics,

he waits,

year after year

he waits,

day after day

he rocks,

people scurry by,

afraid to catch his eye,

afraid to catch the fear and pain

that linger there,

so long ago

the story goes,

a man came in the night

and took his wife,

leaving sadness, anger,

madness, guilt,

day after day

he rocks,

year after year

he waits,

on Halloween

he leaves the porch

and walks the town

from dusk ‘til dawn,

he calls her name,

‘My sweet Lorraine’

and cries with anguished pain,

his sweet Lorraine

will not return,

will never be again,

she never was

the story goes,

he never had a wife,

his madness comes from deep inside,

from all the woes of life,

year after year

 he waits,

day after day

he rocks,

for the love he lost,

or never had,

so very,

very

sad.