Waiting

He stepped in through the doors of her early life
which creaked with what time had gently worn away
gathering dust on forgotten hinges of failed efforts and tries.
And he broke the weary lock of “never again”, she had placed
to barricade the entrance of where she dwelled alone, fearing
to let another take her by the hand and promise forever to her.
But the gentleness he offered showed her love, the kind of love
that served the empty places she no longer thought upon, and
guarded her at night while she slept, warding off the things that
often slipped in through the cracks into her mind.
And she learned to love again, leaving behind the brokenness
and living for the precious time he gave to her,
and she could only say...

I can’t promise you the world, can’t promise you
a thousand times around the sun, but since we’ve just begun,
I’ll promise that through every brand new day we face,
wherever you are, I’ll find my place and always will I be
the one that waits here patiently,
if you ever need me,
love will be my anchor holding steadfast to the floor
when you can’t take the world anymore,
I promise to be here
waiting.

The days quickly passed them by beneath the overgrown
vines of youth that hung with brilliance from their eternal skies
sheltering them from manifestations of the world beyond
their reach, still limited by infant dreams they would conquer.
But new faces hung on different walls they often leaned against,
never turned around to see, but when he did there was something new
that captivated his searching mind and at last
convinced his heart to open eyes of its own to the once thought, unlikely-
perhaps perfect. And so he daringly ventured from his own captivity
to what he admired from a distant cliff of doubt, now certain to step off
and unknowingly help her understand she was his prison.
So he gently said goodbye without much reason, for she already knew
and she could only say...

I never promised you the world, never promised you
a thousand times to begin again, but since we are human,
I’ll promise that through every brand new day we see,
wherever you go, I’ll try to find my place and still I’ll be
the one that waits here patiently,
if you ever need me,
love will be my anchor keeping steady to the ground
when you feel powerless and bound
I promise to be here
waiting.

Life returns to places it had visited before
and pauses to remember all the times it spent in
adoration of simplicity, beauty found in what remains there
on the shore of yesterday and the day before that, where she
often visited just to think upon the “maybes” and the “somehows”
that always felt familiar. And while she sees the scars left traced
along the fractured heart she tried to disown at times, she recalls their reason,
sees the reward of the strength that drew from pain and aching, and
wonders at the perseverance of a human’s love.
And so she tilts her head toward her skies that, still, move boundlessly
around her fragile life of glass, and hopes that the heaven beyond them
will bring him back to her, if she must wait that long
but for now she can only say...

If I could, I’d promise you the world, I’d promise you
a thousand times around the sun, but now that we’ve begun,
I’ll promise that if there is another day for you and I,
wherever you are, I’ll find my place and try to be
the one that waits here patiently,
if you even need me,
love will be my anchor holding me unshakable
when your heart is feeling breakable
I promise to be here
waiting.