Soul Mates

So many lifetimes come and go between ill spent youth and the grave Hopes and dreams of generations Are the memories we all save

 

How many times have I met you

in the strangers that passed me by

Were you the one that touched my coat

the friend that once kissed me goodbye

 

How often have we stood in line

just to watch loved ones go to war

Then brushed away the tears of hope

as they ran off to join the Corps

 

Were you the one whose heart had ached

when my ship drifted out to sea

The foundered soul whose anchor broke

the one whose dreams had yearned for me

 

Are we destined to always be

just passing strangers in the night

Whose ebbing flowing tides of love

never met when the time was right

 

So many lifetimes come and go

between ill spent youth and the grave

Hopes and dreams of generations

hold the memories we all crave

 

Perhaps I'm just the little child

with a heart that once broke in two

Who walks the well-worn streets of old

searching for memories of you

 

Author's Note

Don't we all wonder if another is the one for whom we were meant?
How many lifetimes must we pass by before our soul finds it's hearts desire?
This was for the green eyes cased in Honey Hue, that I once knew.
May she find this dream to be her own .

Reviews

[Shelly Braen]

This piece simply makes me swoon in the ideals of such times. This is by far, one of my favorites. Tate, you have donr it again, made me simply have to stop and stare at the beautiful scene you have laid out here. "Are we destined to always be,
just passing strangers in the night" Even for a moment to pass by one so precious, it would be worth a lifetime. I can nearly hear the brass band in the distance.

[Katie]

This is a question that I feel everyone ponders sometime in life. It is strange and beautiful how things work out. Amazing write.

[emma]

what a beautiful piece of writing. Very thought provoking.

[Simpleasures]

I wonder all the time...this was written with such care and heart. You captured me in the lines of the first stanza. Brilliant piece.

[Ferg]

The writing in this is very well done. The rhyme is subtle and the rhythm is flawless. Everything comes together in this poem...subject, word choice, rhyme, rhythm.......well done.

[Poeticpiers]

You strike a resonating chord my friend. Sometimes we wonder if we chose aright

[emmajoy]

Seems many of us go through life wondering if maybe he or she was the one .. and the remembering can be sometimes sad and painful, sometimes beautiful.

You've woven your thoughts within fine metre and used some sweet phrases which really made me picture a scene: ' Were you the one that touched my coat ' .. I see just a fleeting touch, a moment come and gone, eyes meeting ..

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Tate,

This is one of your better pieces, nearly flawless at least to my eye. Wonderfully done. You should feel proud of this one. Great write and, of course, another great sentiment, that of searching for one's soul mate and wondering how many times you've passed in the night.

High marks.

Best regards,

Rick

[Charles]

I thought I commented on this poem the other day, but maybe the review never made it through cyberspace. This poem addresses the age old question that starts with - hey, don't I know you from someplace. There are some nice touches that annchor the poem (like the touching of the coat in passing) and adequate reference to water (such as, ebbing and flowing). I like the way the poem jumps right into the 'action' without meaningless preamble. Well done but as usual I do find a few things of interest to the critic in me. In line three, I think 'were' is better than 'where' and in line four I would add 'the' between 'or friend.' I know this sets off the meter a bit, but not by much ('the' can be an especially soft sound and the glaring absence of an article in front of 'friend' makes the disruption palatable. In this you've heard one of my pet peeves: poets who omit 'a, an, the' for no good reason, making the line stand out for its absence. I struggled with the second stanza for a while because of the sequence of lines (the two center lines disrupt the question about how often. I tried it as: How often did we stand lined up / When I went off to join the corps / To see loved ones go off to war / To brush away the tears of hope. Not really much improvement, maybe the 'To's' have to be looked at more closely. In the next stanza I wondered about the one being left behind (supposedly on land) being the one whose anchor broke. Such trivial things in a fine poem, but I call 'em like I see 'em and it's the little things that make a difference sometimes. Hope you take these comments in the good spirit they are intended. :-)

[Luna]

This is another beautiful piece that has left me speechless. Well done.

[cest la vie]

This is quite lovely Tate..
Thank you for sharing with us all..