For My Wife
by Jack H. Simons
As you go your way,
And I go mine.
Me to death, and you to life.
I wish to tell you my heart.
Though sentenced to die
Before I was born,
I remain a contented man,
Who, while this short candle burns,
Will seek you again, and again, and again.
Our children burn brightly,
And theirs, like scattered luminarias,
Eerily glow against the dark night.
Among the prisoners, all condemned,
We travel our hopeful, idiotic ways
Toward an end that will not end well.
Without a thought, it would seem;
Hoping, hoping, hoping for that
Light that promises a new day,
A new life, a new heaven and earth.
And wondering, if when there,
Would we love what we loved here?
Or would we love in a different way?
Besides you and ours,
All that I have loved the most
Are lost forever to the dark
– lost, lost.
And I would love them again,
And have them love me.
Now as I go, I would tell you,
That as I love you now,
I will love you then –
As long as eternal light remains.
Again, and again, and again.
For I know that as my light
Goes out, light remains for you.
And I await in a greater light
To love you then.
Photo for header image by annaspies