An Affair of the Heart

They moved right in to the house next door

To our great regret, and pain,

It sounded as if they’d gone to war

Or the two were quite insane,

We should have kept right away from them

But did the neighbourly bit,

Went over and introduced ourselves

And watched them hiss and spit.

They couldn’t seem to control themselves

Not even in front of us,

If Jill had spoken to me like that

I’d have pushed her under a bus.

And if I’d shown her the same contempt

That Ray had shown to Liz,

She’d fly at me with a kitchen knife

Because that’s the way it is.

We left them there and we went back home

But appalled, with eyebrows raised,

‘Thank god that we’re not like them,’ we said,

Our relationship we praised,

They never stopped, we could hear them both

As they each tore each apart,

‘Why do they stay together that way?

It’s not an affair of the heart.’

We found that we had to go to them

On a crisp, September night,

They asked us both to adjudicate

After a terrible fight,

So I sat down with Liz, and Jill

Sat listening to Ray,

And after we got back home again

We had different things to say.

‘That Ray is the monster of the two,’

I said, ‘for he’s always wrong,’

‘That Liz is a shrew, I’m telling you,’

Said Jill as she sang his song.

We couldn’t agree on anything,

We even began to fight,

We had to agree to disagree

As I slept on the couch that night.

Then Jill took to walking in the park

With Ray as the nights wore on,

While I sat with Liz, here, in the dark,

And hugged her, while they were gone,

But never a word amiss was said,

You wouldn’t believe it true,

‘For Ray is a perfect gentleman,’

Said Jill, ‘and nicer than you.’

‘Well, Liz would have been my heart’s desire,

If I’d only met her first,’

The terrible jibes were steel and fire,

It seemed that we both were cursed,

And then came the day Jill ran away,

With Ray, and I slept with Liz,

I said that I’d love her every day

For that is the way it is.

A year went by and I saw Jill cry

When we met at night in the dark,

And I was miserable too, I sighed,

To Jill in the midnight park,

‘What happened to our relationship,

We seem to have come off worse,’

‘They’re both as bad as each other, Jill,

Meeting them was a curse.’

But there was never a going back

To capture what we had lost,

We’d been the tools of a pair of fools

And now were paying the cost,

For Liz flings terrible barbs at me

While Ray tears Jill apart,

We pay the price, and it isn’t nice,

It’s not an affair of the heart.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[A Soap Mess Stories]

A tragic tale we lose when we dabble outside the marriage. Well told.

[Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn..]

This poetic tale of yours is humorously not funny, but hilariously true to life, for I have met people such as Ray & Liz, and the results of hanging around couples like that is exactly as you paint in words that describe good folks trying to help drowning folks, and ending up floating face down in the river of quarrels and separation themselves ... A good laugh with a sound moral ... Stay the hell at your own house, leave the crazies alone, and keep your eyes on your own woman lest someone else tend your flock in removing her socks and dainties, all while you think you are the sly one, but it is your wife who slips away ...

[Avinash]

Quite realistic work David. In affairs not involving heart, we lose everything we once cherished. We must know how to value things and especially relationships which have nurtured us. Else we would end up like Jill and her hubby.

[Coyote Poetry]

Real life poetry my friend. Old country saying. Grass may look more greener next door. It isn't. I enjoyed the tale and the realistic ending my friend. Thank you David for sharing the amazing poetry.
Coyote