The Temptation

‘I would if I could but I can’t,’ he said,

‘Though I know it would be sublime,

I’m spoken for, and it does my head

To think that you could be mine.

I made a vow, and I don’t know how

I could break it, and feel right,

But though I’m true, I’m thinking of you

As I do, each sleepless night.’

 

He shook his head and he walked away

As she clutched the verandah rail,

She turned her face away when the trace

Of her tears had left a trail.

‘I don’t know what the attraction is,’

She said, as she wiped her eyes,

‘But it must be true what I say to you,

Anything else is lies!’

 

He walked back into his hotel room

And held his head in his hands,

And as he did the temptation grew

For a taste of contraband.

She’d met him there as she always did

For she serviced all the rooms,

His monthly trip, and her heart would flip

As the day of his coming loomed.

 

And he would think of her sparkling eyes

The set of her moist, pink lips,

Her flaxen hair and her pointed stare

And the sway of her virgin hips.

Her image was burnt upon his brain

Though he still loved his woman too,

It left him sore and confused, he thought,

What was a man to do?

 

He fell at last in a deep, deep sleep

And Rhianna entered his room,

She saw him peacefully lying there

Quite unaware in the gloom,

She lay down quiet beside him, just

To see how it felt to lie

Next to the one that her love was on,

He woke, his hand on her thigh.

 

The silken feel of Rhianna’s thigh

Had put him into a trance,

He thought that a dream had come to life

Til he opened his eyes, by chance,

Her lips were hovering over his brow

Her flaxen hair in his face,

Her strange perfume permeated the room,

He rolled off the bed in haste.

 

‘I would if I could but I can’t,’ he said,

‘I need you to understand,

If I were free, with just you and me

But I’m not, and this wasn’t planned.’

He left, drove home in the early dawn

To arrive unexpectedly,

And saw the light in the bedroom on,

His woman had company.

 

She wept as the man had gathered his clothes,

And made poste haste for the door,

While he just stood as if turned to wood,

His feet fast glued to the floor,

‘Well, you’re always off on your travels, John,

You must consider my plight!’

‘That may be so,’ as he turned to go,

‘But I know where I’ll sleep tonight!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[ANTO]

Wow - both of them playing away from home. I know ... I know.. you're gonna say to me 'Anto - you should know by now that theres always a little something in my poems - I just dont write them for the good of my health'
but - Im so glad thats the case and every time its like 'come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly'
which is why I love the DLP. (not to be confused with the DUP - a political party over here).
Great craic David - thank you .. again and again - and again

[Barbz]

A bit of mystery looms, as I read this. Did he desire to stray from
hIs vows because his wife's attention was diverted, or was the shoe on the other foot? Her husband realized that he could no longer succumb to his desires, as his wife's paramour gathered his clothes and fled in haste. Did he sleep in the spare room, in his car......OR???
Married for 45 years, however, seems to me I've heard this melody before...... Thanks David, for the lyrics.......

[Lizardo]

What a wonderful story-poem you have here, I really really enjoyed reading this