MAKING CHOICES (a poem)

Life is about making choices.
I choose you still.
I chose you when I was young,
couldn’t see past tomorrow.
You too had a choice to make
Looking forward you chose me.
We talked about investing trust,
confidently chose to trust each other,
we pledged it for a lifetime,
such an audacious prospect.
Since life’s about choices, there were times
you might have changed your mind.
Planet life offers many options,
I could have tripped on some,
but we both embraced our ageless choices,
so trust and promise won.

I now see many yesterdays,
today is where I live, and you are here.
If there will be no tomorrow,
today and yesterdays were enough
because you chose me.

© Ron Unruh, March 2020

MY LONG GRIEF (A POEM)

The loss of one, the loss of a son,
The loss of a wife, the loss of a life,
The loss of a lover,  
Slow to recover,
Becomes a long grief.

The hurt of absence,
The pain of empty,
The sound of silence,
There is no relief. 

Don’t cliché me to death,
Don’t tell me ‘don’t cry,’
Don’t say get a grip,
When I cry out ‘Why?’
Mine is a long grief.

One day will pass and then another,
In some deficit way,
I will recover,
But I won’t be the same.
My long grief laid its claim.

I’ll smile again and help others grin,
Hiding the anguish I carry within.
I’ll live longer and I’ll live without,
But I’ll always miss the one life was about.
‘twill be a long grief.

© Ron Unruh, March 2020