“Way of the Heart”

 

c. 2025 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(11-25)

 

How odd it is to contemplate

That you left this space so many years ago

Yet I still see you when I slumber and dream

When I toss the bedcovers to and fro

I doubt that your mind has turned very often

Toward a soulmate, now separate and apart

But there’s a connection that I can’t explain

A restless breathing in the dark

 

Karma does what it chooses

Though flesh and feelings play their part

That’s the way of the heart

That’s the way of the heart

 

Once upon a time, there was a vow

Taken boldly, in a public place

Witnesses bearing gifts of gold

With my eyes closed, I can still behold your face

But that date has grown pale in memory

I struggle to recall such wonder

When I held your hand and placed a ring

As a sign of what no one should put asunder

 

Karma does what it chooses

Though flesh and feelings play their part

That’s the way of the heart

That’s the way of the heart

 

Sixteen years and more have gone away

How strange to think that I linger in thought

Not as a conscious act in the daylight

Yet clear enough, in the nebulous naught

Have you ever once had me appear in a vision?

I can’t imagine that it has occurred

But this wild spark of affection won’t die

It lives on in unspoken words

 

Karma does what it chooses

Though flesh and feelings play their part

That’s the way of the heart

That’s the way of the heart

 

Sometimes I peer into the misty void

And see you leaving me, to take another name

That episode repeats often in reflection

Though we split so long ago, I have no claim

When I wake in the wee hours of night

And sit upon the edge of my bed

Trembling there in moonlight through the window

I see a truth that can’t be banished from my head

 

Karma does what it chooses

Though flesh and feelings play their part

That’s the way of the heart

That’s the way of the heart

 

Will I be brave and speak of this to you?

It is doubtful that I would ever dare

I haven’t seen you in a fortnight and longer

I am not certain that you would care

So, with a nod of acceptance shown

I’ll return to oblivion, and the bookshelf

Sitting silently in this metaphorical corner

Consoled by fate, and myself

 

Karma does what it chooses

Though flesh and feelings play their part

That’s the way of the heart

That’s the way of the heart