Last Chance

‘The world has left me behind,’ he said,

‘I live my life in the past,

None of the things that I came to love

Survived, they just couldn’t last.

The rails that I rode are overgrown,

The music I loved has gone,

The friends that I made are left in the shade,

Though most of them travelled on.’

 

The woman who’d answered his ad was sat

Beside him out on the porch,

She’d heard this tale a million times

So she never carried a torch.

She bent her head as she listened to him

And she smiled, her hair was grey,

The years of care were visible there

As her beauty faded away.

 

‘But wasn’t it all a wonderful ride,’

She sighed, as she thought of him,

The man who’d always been at her side

‘Til he died, his end was grim.

But that was a dozen years ago

And life carried on, though sad,

She wanted to meet a gentle soul

Which was why she’d answered the ad.

 

‘Why would you want to live in the past

When the past is done and gone,

I tip my hat to the past,’ she said,

‘But the future lures me on.

There’s conversation and love to share

As long as there’s life and breath,

The future’s only a day away,

The end of it all is death.’

 

He sat up straight and he stared at her

Transfixed by her gentle voice,

The things that stirred in his hardened heart

He’d buried them there by choice.

Behind her eyes was an inner glow

That he hadn’t noticed before,

‘Could you really bring me to life again?’

He said, and his voice was raw.

 

‘We can take it just one step at a time,’

She said, ‘as we did when young,

The world was such a marvellous place

To explore, like a song unsung,

We’ll bless the sun coming up each day,

To spread its light through our land…’

Then watched the roll of a single tear

As she reached on out for his hand.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Mark]

Wow...
No ghosties, no weirdings, no retribution or revenge (deserved or otherwise)...
Okay, who are you REALLY, and what have you done with my David??
Seriously, though, this was a wonderfully touching paean to hope...Most uncharacteristic, but for that nonetheless endearing. Beatiful verifying of an all-too-often-absent sentiment, David

[Ahena MK]

""He sat up straight and he stared at her
Transfixed by her gentle voice,
The things that stirred in his hardened heart
He’d buried them there by choice.
Behind her eyes was an inner glow
That he hadn’t noticed before,
‘Could you really bring me to life again?’
He said, and his voice was raw.""

really good !!

[Gedalya]

I enjoyed reading this, it has a good sense of direction.

[Carolann Dowsett]

This is simply wonderful David and speaks of the simple wisdom of not living in the past but of embracing the future and each day as it comes to us as a gift from God.

[A. Amos]

‘We can take it just one step at a time,’
She said, ‘as we did when young,
The world was such a marvellous place
To explore, like a song unsung,

Like a song unsung, deep yet very poetic. loved it