Based on Twilight Zone, Season 1, Episode 31 in the continuing poem study requested by and dedicated to my eldest daughter:

The Chaser
by Michael Romani

Somewhere between the light and the shadow
There lies a truth that we all know
Being careful of what we wish for
Is sometimes the wisdom of the opened door
Where overheard is a busy signal on an unanswered line
And it whispers its secrets to an unrequited Valentine

A young man loves past a point of all consuming
Passionately questing for a  love  he's grooming
In a lady whose feelings are a vague passing interest
She barely recalls him and cares even less
Into the Twilight, he begins his desperate journey
Into a magical if somewhat tragic kind of story

She answers her phone obviously disappointed
She is the cat's meow even if self-anointed
With disdain she advises him to jump for the moon
It is a decision she'll come to regret soon
The waiting line at the phone has its urgency
No longer tolerant of this lovelorn emergency

With the ease of a discard, he's handed a card
Along with the advice that some answers are hard
Arriving at a door that leads to the door of a library
Where a crusty ole professor finds it all too contrary
All of the needs he can meet come with a guarantee
Of almost anything or something but not nothing, you see

Disappointment spoken over a heart that's been broken
Consuming need for a love potion over power is but a token
Love spells give the love of a spaniel's tail shake
But, it is within the power of the librarian to make
The librarian offers a cleansing to free him of this need
He speaks in terms of commonsense and no longer having to bleed

A love potion, can you imagine, just how very nice
It's only a dollar, but, not even worth that price
We all mainly believe what we think will make us happy
Too ready and willing to forget the pages of our history
He offers love so desperately with roses and Champagne
All she sees is a man who has become a burdensome pain

In her eyes, his puppy love makes him like a sophomore
All enthusiasm and nothing of any value to her any more
Conceding to one small drink she goes to change
As he bubbles up and slips in something strange
With one gulp she drinks the concoction on down
Ready to move on and get rid of this vexing clown

In no uncertain terms, she tells him that he must go
Offering him a puckish kiss and suddenly she knows
Overcome by the feeling, spilling from the drink
She pulls away questioning, unsure of what to think
Soon they are married and she is kneeling at his feet
He wonders, God forbid, if she might find a seat

Suddenly, she is overly doting on his every mood
In return, he finds his heart holds no gratitude
If there is so such a thing as too much love to give
She's giving it and this he finds difficult to forgive
He lies and makes up an appointment to which he is late
Leaving in a hurry and failing once again to appreciate

He finds himself rushing on his way to the professor's lair
Hoping to find an answer to the magic he found there
The professor has waited and waits there in expectation
That the young man will come back after his rejection
Of the love he had believed he had desperately needed
Hesitation felt, the hand's dealt and he's conceded

That things have turned out exactly as he was warned
In a detailing of his predicament he is not mourned
One thousand dollars for the professor's glove cleaner
The man realizes he's turned meaner and meaner
But, no trace, no taste and not a hint of tragic waste
Would do the trick and this must be bought with haste

Despite it's coming at great expense and cost
The professor urges it be used before will is lost
Always it has happened in the same haphazard way
A special blend slipped into the Champagne bought along the way
A clink of glasses and a knitted baby sock tells it's tale
That's more than enough cause for him to make the drink spill

Looking half startled, he sits back in self concession
The rest of their lives will be lived in this confession
The rest of their days spent in exactly this way
Roger Shackleforth has lost all willingness to play
And though still spoiled love has proven unpalatable 
He has found love to be both fickle and malleable

August 26, 2017  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved