SAMPLE POEMS – The River-Fed Stone <--back to main samples page

COFFEEHOUSE TEARS

As I walked into the coffeehouse,
I spotted her sipping tea.
She looked up with her forlorn eyes,
Her sadness clear to me.

She invited me to take a seat,
She had a story to tell,
About the day her husband left,
The day love turned to hell.

She gave him everything she had,
Her body, soul and heart,
His old habits got the best of him,
He relapsed; she fell apart.

Off he went on a bender, it seems,
A blur of drugs and drink—
When she confronted him, he said,
“Fine,” and took off—just think

Of the pain it caused this woman,
Her eyes folded into her face,
Tears so sharp, bitter and fierce
They’re salting her in place.

Yet she turns up at the coffeehouse,
Loneliness not her style,
Through those sad eyes I can tell
She’s yearning for joy, while

Dealing with the tragedy of losing
A man once very sweet,
A man now lost in his shadows,
Her sadness under his feet.