Ignore the Mills And Boon dreamers who say
It’s better to love and lose than never
To have loved at all. I regret the day
I felt love’s curse at first sight. I met her
On a cruise while hiding from the dream date
My friends were trying to palm off on me
Just because they hadn’t yet seen me mate.
My dark siren asked me to find her key,
And though I doubted if she had lost one,
I found it, right where she knew it would be.
By missing the motive behind the con
I left the next move to her. She called me
A duck-egg and kissed me but my first bliss
Was cut off when an old puritan cracked
Me with his walking stick and shouted ‘Piss
Off and leave her alone." Dance/Romance packed
Days followed but our time was running out
Geography was due to tear us apart
Glasgow and Oldham coaches were about
To take us home, and her passionate heart
Was breaking from her need for an answer
To the awful question, ‘Do you love me?’
"Was it ‘love’ or something else?" I asked her,
Afraid to declare my love absolutely
Towards her as our relationship deepened
Too quickly for teenagers to control
She phoned to say how much she depended
On my love being total to console
Her aching soul. I wrote back advising
Her to forget me for someone closer
To home who could provide all the loving
She needed, while I at best could post her
Affectionate letters and travel North
Every Blue Moon for a rendezvous doomed
To end as quickly as before. "I’m not worth
That much pain," I told her. I had assumed
She would understand me, but I never heard
From her again. Now I know I did love
Her, it’s too late. I feel frightened and weird.
New romances in my bland life may shove
The question ‘Do you love me?’ to the fore
Again. If they do, How will I reply?
I might never be asked. I’m long past the shore
And safe harbour of youth, so I’ll just lie;
"Of course I love you, Darling," with a kiss
I ‘d rather share with Glasgow’s warmest heart
Who I still pine for, and adore and miss
Enough to wish I’d never loved from the start.
THE END
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