An infinite love eternally fortified in spite of your tragic and untimely death!

By Stanley Collymore

 

From the very first moment that I saw you I instantly

became aware of the tremendous impact you were

having on me and which, as I gradually got to

know you, I insightfully realized was the

commencement of my love for you;

then as I suitably wrestled with

that welcoming thought it too quickly dawned on me that

you for your part were evincing reciprocal emotions for

me. Delightedly, I encouraged these; and buttressed

by my growing feeling for you, which you fully

endorsed with you sympathetic motivation, I

energizingly pressed on. Two individuals

in love with each other and, moreover,

most cheerfully and constructively

prepared to dauntlessly explore

the very enthralling and most

exhilarating possibility of

physically, in addition

to emotionally being

dedicated friends

and amorously

committed

lovers.

 

At the time both of us were young students enrolled at

the same university college and most propitiously

had discovered, as it happened, that we were

also on the identical course of study that

eventually on our individual and, of

course, successful graduation

would fittingly enable us to joyfully, eagerly and

constructively embark on our carefully chosen

careers as dedicated graduate teachers; fully

aware in our doing so of the multiple and

challengingly exciting responsibilities

which that prospective achievement

on our part would entail for both

of us as we accordingly set out

on a brand new start as part

of the expected and fully

acknowledged gamut

of the continuum of

our still decidedly

in progress but

exciting even

so personal

journey.

 

At last together romantically while simultaneously

and happily sharing the same study course that

would enable us to earnestly and properly

explore, adjust whenever this was

necessary, and most crucially

all through this academic process be that better

informed to scrutinizingly probe, precisely

complement, and also consolidate our

thoughtfully arrived at conjectural

theories, now through detailed

and scrupulous examination

adeptly transformed into

obviously irrefutable

conclusions, was

champion for

us entirely.

 

Absolutely inspirational and thoughtfully satisfying in

every possible way yet so uncomplicatedly engaged

in without any fuss; pleasurably and naturally

welcomed, warmly embraced and actively

encouraged by family members and

friends alike whose instinctive

trust in our individual and reciprocal choice

of each other as prospective spouse and

life long partner to each other were

appropriately matched by their profound, most

generous and heartfelt wishes that markedly

were unreservedly, plainly, altruistically

and comprehensively, fully manifest

in the process, merged with their

supportive allegiance to our

future, well-being and, of

course, our mutually

shared happiness.

 

Happy as two courting blackbirds willingly ensconced

in a Clammy Cherry tree and, accordingly, in our

very own fortunate and convivial environment

thoroughly composed and entirely carefree

in our promising and positively at home

situation as any two self-assured and,

metaphorically speaking, ardently attached love

birds deeply and devotedly in love with each

other could possibly be, we congratulated

each other on our shared good fortune;

none the less never forgetting in our

united celebration and privileged observance our

grateful thanks and profound appreciation to

God Almighty for graciously allowing us

to have and equally pleasurably enjoy

together this incredibly privileged

and fairly unique relationship

that together we had rather

fortuitously managed

to chance upon.

 

Our individual honours degree successfully completed

and our respective job interviews likewise finalized,

all that now remained before we commonly and

expectantly embarked on our particularized,

promising and encouragingly rewarding

teaching careers was our enormously

anticipated, joyously planned and

personally pledged to be unforgettable

graduation ceremony and celebration; the wonderful

encapsulation of everything, both productive and

enduringly transformative in our lives, that had

happily and thankfully transpired during our

course of study, our truly delightful times

together and, of course, the impending

expectations we reciprocally had not

only on account of us for the very

last time departing our learning

institution and understandably

reflectively musing on them

but also, as we confidently

and with the maximum

of self-assurance and

vigour, were about

to boldly venture

into the future.

 

Deeply in love, as evidently we were, we were all the

same equally quite matured and highly responsible

enough to know that marriage, home-building

and having children did not normally or, at

the very least, shouldn’t sensibly happen

accidentally or even purposely of their

own accord, but on the contrary had

to be both astutely, assiduously

and positively worked on if developing these objectives

were ultimately to be fruitfully achieved. And those

were the salient criteria that we most carefully

imbued and determinedly tasked ourselves

would be our personal and reciprocal

benchmark and that unwaveringly

from which we would never

ever permit ourselves

to consciously

depart!

 

But unknowingly and quite disastrously for us the omens

would and did ignobly conspire to ruin our brand new

start; for having purposely and mutually decided to

accept teaching positions at different schools, a

situation freely motivated by neither of us

wishing to metaphorically as it were get

under the other’s feet professionally

at the very beginning of our teaching careers,

that’s exactly what we went on and rather

consensually did. An altruistic move

but despite that, as subsequently

happened, one with very

unforeseen and dire

consequences.

 

For with my highly capable first aid training which was

markedly complemented by a vast amount of personal

experience that those who were present and actively

involved with my fiancée during that time in the

school’s gymnasium where she was working

in her dual capacity as a P.E. teacher didn’t,

of course, possess; I was explicably but

deeply regrettably not there to save

her life when ironically from a previously medically

undiagnosed and, as a result, an unconscious of

physical illness: namely epilepsy, triggered a

severe epileptic seizure which caused her

limp tongue to block the conduit to her

oesophagus. A state of affairs that in

trained and knowledgeable hands

would’ve been easily rectified

and thus have saved her life;

but in its place, and in the

visible absence of such

skilled assistance my

treasured fiancée

most unhappily

choked and

unluckily

died.

 

© Stanley V. Collymore

30 November 2015.

 

 

Author’s Remarks:

Lorna was 23 years old when she died and like the both of us was in her second year of teaching when that happened. A brilliant scholar, she was also a prolific and very talented poetess and from her school’s report an excellent teacher as well.

 

Sorely missed, deeply loved and forever remembered!