The Canvas of My Life

Outstretched in painted reverie,

the canvas of my life

began with boyish ventures,

filled in when taking a wife.

 

Memories long erased

of the tempests in my youth

were muted by the hues

of wife’s goodness and truth.

 

The joys of our early love

matured with tones of pain

fate cast upon the ‘scape

we shared to mutual gain.

 

Ambitions were the fingers

that scribbled all through life

bold shades of the trials,

my triumphs suffused with strife.

 

Our children were the glow

fixed deftly to this scene

of politics and work, joys

shared, plans dreamed.

 

The years were quickly sketched,

their charted plan long gone,

and obsessions framed my needs

while wife stayed taut and strong.

 

I’ve come to my graying time

as she’s kept her girlish glow;

but our passion’s mine alone,

for now her colors muted show.

 

 

first published in SOUL SEARCH Chapbook

also published in Streams of Living Water Anthology