‘Twere better we had parted years ago
When both were young, before the scorn of Time
Had ravaged youth and beauty’s tender glow,
Robbing sweet innocence—his cruelest crime.
Now long apart, with memory left to stand
As tribute to love’s lusty, languorous days,
My heart still craves your beauty’s soft command—
Faint visions worn yet warmed by words of praise.
But when I face that chill, unyielding glass,
To brave reflected proof of my estate,
Your youthful visage, by recall unmasked,
Returns to me—a soft, sweet, welcome wraith.
I look at you; your image melds with me—
There both made young, and ever so to be.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.