Time

Down the road , around the bend

Lived a man who was my friend...

He had no wife or other kin,

how lonely this man must have been!

A squeaky porch swing where he sat

swayed back and forth as he stroked

his cat.

Each day I’d pass and wave and

smile, but had no time to stay a while.

Important duties beckoned me,

I had things to do and people to see. 

“I’ll visit soon,” I called to my friend

 As on I hurried ‘round the bend.

"I’ll surely do it,”  I averred,

I’ll stop and visit – keep my word!

We’ll  talk and laugh and have a drink

It’s nice to have a friend, I think.

But Time waits for no one – it hurries past

and promises made seldom last.

The news came early via phone

My friend had died – all alone.

my heart beat faster when I heard

“If only I had kept my word.”

And now, I visit where he sat, swing

back and forth and stroke his cat.

   ©2016 Peggy Toney Horton~

www.amazon.com/author/peggytoneyhorton

Walking Away

I watch him walk away, my
heart breaking at the thought of
losing him. Setting pride aside, I...
beg him to stay, thrusting my arms
around him - feeling unbearable
pain when he coldly removes them.
“It’s better this way,” he says..
“Please! You’re tearing my heart out,”
I plead tearfully – as the door closes
behind him.

Will it Always Be This Way?

                                             

       Of these cold and rainy May days, I’ve grown weary; though
      I shout the words out loud, seems no one hears me?

I’m sure God made the sun – to make our days a lot more fun,
yet they're so dreary!

Expecting sunshine, I arise – none finds its way into my eyes,
I’m disappointed.

To entertain myself, I try - tiresome season, go on by,
I shall ignore you.

I scale a mountain high and wide and look upon the other side –
it is no greener.

Am l to always feel this bad - or will a new day make me glad;
will there be sunbeams?

Will it always be this dour? Or can it change within the hour –
from sad to joyful?

And then, upon a gentle wind the answers come ‘a floating in
ah, sweet surprises!

A sudden floral smell delights, and things begin to feel alright
the birds are singing..

Their days are short and mine are long - how lovely they fill theirs with song while I’m complaining.

©2016 Peggy Toney Horton~

You Thought Wrong

It was always a love-hate relationship. Burning hot or icy cold. Nothing in between. You came. You saw. You conquered. (You thought!). But she was always wise to your shenanigans; you didn’t fool her.

Oh, she loved you all right. From the moment she first saw you. When you smiled that movie star smile and winked at her – she was yours. But when she discovered how you played the game, she changed her game-plan, too.

There was no honesty in the relationship. You were too afraid of being hurt.

Hold back, you told yourself. Don’t give everything you have. Let her act first. If anyone is hurt, it should be her – not you! After all, with your charm and good looks, you won’t have any trouble getting another girl to fall for you just the way she did. It’ll be easy.

But what you didn’t count on was her heart hardening toward you and yours softening toward her. You didn’t expect the tables to turn. It seems the longer you withheld your true feelings, the less she needed them--and finally, she didn’t even want them! Or you.

You always thought you were the heartbreaker. How shocking it was to find that your heart is breakable, too.

Hurts, doesn’t it?