Don't Go Away

For those of you who know me, it should come as no surprise that I generally avoid writing any form of free verse poetry. I couldn't avoid posting this next piece, however. It is several years old, now, and I've grown quite attached to it, for one reason or another. It has a fairly constant, if loose, rhyming structure, but lacks any strict meter. I suppose, though, that at the end of the day, the tempo flows consistently enough to satisfy my inner scansionist. Oh, and just in case anyone wonders, I shamelessly hijacked the substance of the 'teardrop' line from Jeff Buckley's 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over,' one of the greatest lost-love ballads ever. That's a form of flattery, right?


Don’t Go Away

I’m lying in my bed
and listening to rain
that falls upon the flowers.
Why did I think I could sleep
when haunted by these hours;
seeing you again
and all that could have been.

Why did I let you go?
I know, no need to say.
I won’t let you go.
I know, don’t go away.

But who can say what time will tell,
so if you go I’ll wish you well.
Just promise you’ll give me one kiss
as we part, separate ways.
A teardrop to hang silently
in my heart all my days,

and you will always be on my mind, love,
yes, you will always be on my mind,
just don’t go away.