End Game

I swore I’d be always single, that

I’d ever be fancy free,

My friends went off to be married, but

I knew that wasn’t for me,

I’d have my fun with the single ones

Then I’d always walk away,

The moment they got too serious

I’d say, ‘No, not today!’

 

I thought I could get away with it

And I did, for seventeen years,

If any were loth to go with me

I’d serenade them in verse,

The single ranks became thinner as

They aged, each fell off the tree,

And what was left were much younger then

And they sure weren’t looking at me.

 

I stopped to look in the mirror once

And I saw what I had feared,

A touch of white at my temples and

A grey patch in my beard,

The lines that rippled my forehead matched

The sunken look of my cheek,

And these had spread as the days had fled,

As the days passed, week by week.

 

I got invited to parties as

The single guy on the block,

So I could balance the numbers if

A girl turned up, ad hoc,

The girls I’d dated were there in force

With husbands near at hand,

They kept their eyes on the single girls

With seductive contraband.

 

I must admit, it wasn’t much fun

As I found myself alone,

I’d take the car to a lively bar

When I felt the urge to roam,

The women were more than desperate

When they reached a certain age,

And those that clung would have you hung

In their own domestic cage.

 

About this time I met a woman

Adrift on the party scene,

She’d not been married or twice divorced

So I asked her name, Jeanine,

We danced together, I held her close

And I thought that she was nice,

She said she’d dated a hundred men

But she never dated twice.

 

The more we chatted the more I found

That Jeanine was just like me,

She was like a mirror image of

The person I’d tried to be,

I’d thought she might come home with me

But she had a different plan,

‘Tonight just isn’t your lucky night,

I’m going on home with Dan.’

 

And that was the very moment that

I felt the first remorse,

I’d lost control of the game plan and

Events would take their course,

I’d lived my life in a selfish way

And at last, I thought, I see,

The pain that I’d put on others, now

Jeanine was putting on me.

 

But fate has a habit of playing tricks

And the tricks it plays aren’t nice,

I’d see her out in the shopping mall

With a number of different guys,

We’d see each other and say hello

But there wasn’t much to say,

While her single date for the moment stood

Confused, and looked away.

 

It had to come to a head, for we

Had never been on a date,

The more I saw her out and about

It had to be more than fate.

I knew that I’d only get one shot

For Jeanine was much like me,

Too scared to become committed

Chasing her youth, desperately.

 

One day she agreed to go on a date

And she asked me, ‘Where will we go?’

‘Not to a bar or restaurant,

Not to a movie show.

We’ve both had enough of the party scene

So I’m taking you down to the lake…’

We sat on a wooden bench in the park

And fed the ducks and the drake.

 

The swans went by with their cygnets and

The goslings went with the geese,

I held her hand and we broke the bread

And revelled in perfect peace,

We took a pizza out to the park

And ate it under the stars,

We’ve not been apart a day since then

And we never go out to bars.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Apart from the vigour and wit of your metre, this tells the most wonderful story and ends as romantic tour de force! Might i ask if you pre.plan your posts or does the odd phrase or word come into mind that has to be juggled or maybe, is it a mix of this or that? Would love to know because, whatever or however, you never fail to create a very different panorama or mood, etc,

[Keith]

Sensational! Great story, great images and beautifully written as always. After a couple of verses I seemed to reading to the beat of a regimental drummer. How do you find the words that string together so well?

[Dhaye]

Life is a game. That's it.

"Sometimes when you are trying to be true,
Searching for another soul to be true to you
That's when you learn, love for her is only a game for two."

Nice narrative again from one of my favorite poets. Thanks for sharing this one, Sir David. :)

[Andrew N. Farrens]

I'm digging the rhyme-scheme, a damned good poem indeed........

[Marie]

So the game had to come to this end. When you're young all love asks is that you be young. Whenyou get older you have to be lucky and smart. As these two obviously were.

[Tate Morgan]

Ah Dave you outdid yourself again With wit and wisdom born of the ages. How lucky you met and kept this one. My father use to say to me "Tate you are 30 yrs old and have but a few yr of eligibility left to you. You have already gone longer than any Morgan I can ever remember. Yet I finally married had children and went on to a happy life . The tale is timeless and so appropriate to the ones who followed Gloria Steinem. She who said you can have it all. Along with advice from Doctor Spock those late blooming parents now find themselves held hostage by the little jewels they raised with so much care. You cant have it all. At least not in this world.

[Emerald Seas]

You do a wonderful job, as always, of writing such tales into your poems. I like this one in that you've illustrated the rather ugly side of single life that ties some people up for life. Even those that play the field find it empty and lonesome after they've matured and realize there is more to life. I'm not saying everyone should marry or settle down, but for many it does seem preferred. Nice penning!

[Uroš D. Stojanov..]

This is so amazing! I loved how you wrote a whole story with such great rhymes. I must say I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end, beautiful love story which is extremely fun to read. Magnificent work.