He Needed to Know...

He Needed to Know...

Waking up... from a startling dream, the sweat soaked sheets 

were cold as the frosty autumn of his life. 

Staring at the ceiling, with eyes wide open, varying subtle tones of light

filtered through the tree branches by way of the open window.

Each moment’s hue flickered as the clouds opened and closed the night sky

allowing the moonlight to come shining through...

He felt an undeniable obsession with the bittersweet reverie

of such a poignant awakening.

Constantly sifting through the dust and ashes in his mind

searching for the clues and missing pieces.

He needed to know there was a reason

to believe his life was not lived in vain...

Those countless years of feeling he never belonged, 

haunted the empty space beside him on this darkest of lonesome nights.

Oh… he was certain, in the very deepest depths of the heart of his soul 

...he had loved infinitely,

throughout the many changing seasons of his life.

He needed to know that the unrequited love he had felt was not 

just a reflection of the love shared from his hopelessly lonely heart...

Walking a lifetime of miles on his own 

did not come without paying the price of freedom.

Solitude is a bitter pill to swallow at the end of the day.

Now he felt the long and twisting pathway

had lead into an absolute corner, 

as a sobering loneliness evolved into an ultimate revelation...

With his back against the wall of the past behind him,

His life flashed before him.  Tears of trepidation overwhelmed

as the threads of a life’s tapestry unraveled before his mind’s eye.

The only dream he ever feared … was to walk alone

at that predestined moment ... dropping to his knees...

Never needing to know how to say goodbye…

December 4, 2012…© Harlon Rivers