The True Test
by Michael Doyle

There's a tear that comes
When your soul dies
As you watch your love
Slip from life, and you cry

We had edged to eternity
Standing there forehead to forehead
Now nothing will return her to me
Until I, too, am dead

I promised to catch her fall
But when she slipped off the bridge
All could do was call
Out her name on that heartbreak ridge

I brought flowers to her grave
Talking to myself, as if to her
Begging her spirit to know that I tried to save
Her, and my life has turned into a blur

They say there are seven steps of grief
Is one of these, wishing yourself dead
The sorrow is almost beyond belief
So many "what ifs" bounce inside my head

A simple joke with so much cost
If only I had caught her grasping hand
But that time of slowness has been lost
And there is nothing left to understand

One step closer to another chance to find
As I slip away into that veiled journey
Letting life seep out of my veins, no longer blind
No longer holding on to hope but to my destiny

All the words that told me that she cared
Made my life as it was meant to be
All the dreams that she had shared
And now all that I feel is dead and lonely

It seems after all, even superheroes cry
For those who tried but failed that test
Finding that battle wings make it impossible to fly
This dying moment seems is the truest test

(c) August 21, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved