In your face

I loved you once, and thought I could once more;

Though years have tumbled careless through our hands.

If you could let me in, and close the door,

We might somehow arrest time’s draining sands.

But somewhere in your face I saw a stranger;

A man I’d never known was living there.

I couldn’t quite identify the danger,

But felt it’s fetid breath upon the air.

These days, I’ve learnt to trust my guts reactions,

Even when they argue with my heart.

Life’s too short to make more bad transactions:

I’m sorry, but the time has come to part.

I know you blame me for this bitter blow,

But something in your face - I must say no.

I loved you once, and thought I could again:

Another broken heart a risk I’d take.

Instead I found a different kind of pain;

Your love demanded vows I could not make.

And somewhere in your face I saw impatience,

A tightening of lips; those narrow eyes

Flashed angry: and in the flash; renaissance:

I saw what lay beneath your coat of lies.

These days, I value true companions only;

Who can, when it is needful, put me first.

You came when life for me was dry and lonely,

And I thought you had come to quench my thirst.

I longed so much to feel your love – embrace,

But I was stopped, by something in your face.