When she’s gone it always feels like she’s gone for too long,
All I can do it wait by the door,
And greet her with eager kisses when she returns,
But one day recently she didn’t go,
We lounged on the sofa all day long,
She read a book and I rested my head in her lap,
She’d occasionally stop to caress me lovingly,
And I thought to myself “this is heaven”,
And then we took a lazy little stroll,
Side by side in the sunshine of suburbia,
We walked and walked and walked,
The following days followed suit,
Bliss for days and weeks and months,
My girl next to me with every step,
And we walked and walked and walked,
We hiked up hills and meandered down quiet lanes,
We looked at all the rocks and plants and homes,
We walked in our neighborhood,
And we walked in the woods,
We walked along lakes and streams and glistening ponds,
We walked past so many other folks,
Greeting them with a distant smile or wave,
Everyone was out walking,
And sometimes back home my darling would weep bitterly,
She didn’t speak a word out loud,
And I’d nudge her gently to console her,
I don’t know what’s wrong,
But something inside her is broken,
I can’t understand,
But at least we have each other,
I know she feels that too,
And sometimes she’ll wipe away her tears,
She’ll drag herself up,
And she’ll look at me and say “want to go for a walk?”
And we’ll walk and walk and walk.
J. N. Ross Poetry 