All I Ever Wanted

Life’s a funny thing.
You think you’ve got it all planned out.
From day one you set the course, sure of the destination.
Going from point A to point B
And if you remember your geometry—the shot’s a sure straight line.
You set such a line for me.

I was more than willing to walk that straight line,
To stick to that tidy thin stretch.
And I balanced that beam with nary a sway,
Always on board, well on my way
Eager for approval, for a caring commendation only you could provide.
I walked that line only for you.

But winter is cold and cunning.
It iced over the beam and blurred the line—
I slid and fell into life, into love, into a world not of your making.
And life progressed as it so often does.
Words spoken shattered the line you’d so carefully drawn, I’d so cautiously walked.
A world scattered into pieces.

I let you down.
And that pain seizes my heart.
It wrenches and squeezes and blood falls like rain.
But the storm quickly abates.
For in walking a circle instead of a square, leaving the path in pursuit of a life,
I gain a life, as do you.

And a life is a funny thing.
It breathes and walks and hurts and loves.
It creates and abounds anew.
And in begetting my own
I break a heart, I bind a heart, I build a heart.
And I gain my greatest desire.