Promise Me

In the shadow of the cold November rain she stood,

Fingers running softly across the deep mahogany wood,

A single tear slipped down her face,

Breathing in the smell of the freshly dug earth,

Silently holding a single white rose,

“I don’t know what to say,” her words but a whisper,

“All these years I hoped and prayed,

Now all I have is questions as I stand here at your grave,

Why you taught me how to live without you, I’ll never understand,

Over this time you’ve become a stranger I hardly know,

I really thought that one day you’d change your mind,”

“Now in a moment I’ll step away,

Give them the word and they’ll lower you into the ground,

In my world, you died the day you walked away,

But today the hope that one day you’d come back is gone,

All my questions will remain as now it’s my turn, to walk away,”

Tears slid down her face, grieving for who he could have been,

As she watched them lower the casket seven feet deep,

“I’ll never in all my life understand, not why you didn’t love me…”

Her gaze turned to the four young children standing quietly with their dad,

“But why you used me as a reason to not love them,”

White rose fell from her hands and she turned away,

Her husband stepped forward and wrapped her in his embrace,

“Baby you know you can’t stop the hands of death,

Though I know you’d give your all just to give him one more chance,”

She buried her face in his chest,

With a sob she said, 

“Promise me you will always love them, even when they mess up,

No matter how far away they go that you’ll welcome them home,

Promise me you will always be their daddy”

She looked up into his eyes which glistened with unshed tears,

“Of course baby, I will always love them,”

And he squeezed her tight.

~Kriss Elise