Next Time Around

I’d come back home from an early shift

When I wasn’t expected - True!

But the house on the hill was cold and still

So I went off, looking for you.

I couldn’t find you at your parents place,

They said they hadn’t a clue,

Your brother said he’d not seen your face

Since the day we spent at the zoo.

 

It wasn’t like you to disappear,

You might have left me a note,

It wasn’t until I came back home

That I found one, stuffed in my coat.

‘I’ve gone to the place that dreamers go

When the world is getting them down,

Gone where a dreamer’s dreams would seem

To be better, next time around.’

 

My heart flipped once and it almost stopped,

I’d thought we were doing well,

We’d been together for seven years

I was truly caught in your spell.

I’d thought that your air of discontent

Was a phase, but I couldn’t see,

You left on the first full day of Lent

So you were giving up me!

 

I wandered around our empty house

For days, in the throes of grief,

I felt my heart had been torn apart,

Then I thought of my cousin, Keith.

He’d lodged with us for a month or so

And I’d seen the spark in his eyes,

But barely noticed the answering glow

Of your own, so now - Surprise!

 

I found a bundle of letters then

In the back of your bedside drawer,

From him to you and from you to him,

I’d never looked there before.

They spilled their passion on every page

Like a toadstool, spreading its spore,

His love was greater than mine, he said,

He’d love you forevermore.

 

And you said terrible things of me

That I’d treated you with neglect,

That I’d taken your love for granted, and

Was an albatross round your neck.

I couldn’t believe the things I read

From the one that I’d loved to death,

But now, I knew what you really said

With every disloyal breath.

 

You’d slept with him while I went to work,

He’d never worked in his life,

But like a Judas he’d worked his will

On you, a deceitful wife.

My stomach turned and I felt quite sick,

For days, it tumbled and churned,

The pain in my heart was like a brick

Til the day that my anger burned.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

A month went by and she came again

To knock at our own front door,

‘I’ve made an awful mistake,’ she said

As her tears ran down on the floor.

‘I’ll do whatever it takes,’ she said,

‘To make the pain go away.’

My eyes were sad but my heart was glad

As I said what I had to say.

 

‘I’ve gone to the place that dreamers go

When the world is getting them down,

Gone where a dreamer’s dreams would seem

To be better, next time around.

I haven’t a place in my life for you

Since you left with such little grace,’

Then I shook my head, for my love was dead

And I slammed the door in her face.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Avinash]

‘I’ve gone to the place that dreamers go
When the world is getting them down,
Gone where a dreamer’s dreams would seem
To be better, next time around.
I haven’t a place in my life for you
Since you left with such little grace,’
Then I shook my head, for my love was dead
And I slammed the door in her face.......these lines I could connect really well.
Great story of love lost, coming back to senses and doing things right.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

The pain of being betrayed and the cost...excellent story....

[Claire in VA]

Good for him!
Serves her right.
I love the part about giving him up for Lent!!
I laughed aloud at that.
Claire

[Marie]

So she gave him up for Lent, the 40 days passed, and she discovered that husbands aren't something you can easily take up again. I'm glad he was able to move on instead of making the mistake of letting her back into his life.

[A]

Wow, gave me pain and then chills lol, I liked it:)

[Draven]

You never fail to provide a good read. You never fail to inspire.

[Becky C Strukamp]

Bravo my dear friend! Bravo! The electricity from your mind flows through your pen to paper with deliberate speed and excellence. The master story teller - you nary fail to deliver a spell binding story with precision. Kudos!!!

[Lena M. P.]

I laughed when I read: "You left on the first full day of Lent So you were giving up me!"
Very well done and a perfect slap in the face when she returned. Excellent.

[Helen Crutchett]

Love it David! Once again superb poetry as only you can do. The humour threading through the very modern thrust of relationships between men and women, in the guise of a rollicking classic piece. Well penned my friend!