Ever since I was young 15 or 16 To be exact

I wanted things Many things That weren’t to be mine

I wanted the fortune Of the businessman 14 houses down the block

I wanted the fame All eyes on me The world waiting for my next move

But above all The love Of the girl next door

Her hair was blonde Not white blonde But dirty

And her eyes Were the shade of my fathers coffee That he brewed first thing each morning

Her legs and arms Were long, slender, and pale Like the milk from the farmers market

And she had a certain grace about her Every movement was as smooth As the surface of the water before it breaks

But it wasn’t her hair Her eyes Her grace Her beautiful, perfect face

It was the imperfection In her espresso eyes That I could tell she worked hard to bury Deep inside

I knew it was why she never smiled Or cracked a joke Behind the coffee irises I saw the smoke

I had been warned It would go up in flames But my young pride Was to blame

The sound of warning sirens grew close Then far As my wobbly bike Pedaled past them all

I worked night and day To earn her heart And even then I knew it was doomed from the start

She came to love me After a year or two But we could never work Like the other lovers do

Her father was the mayor And I was poor He didn’t care I gave her happiness Because I could give no more

The day he learned of us He came to my house Offered me money to leave her alone She was priceless so I would accept no amount

He tried to reason But love can’t be abandoned Then he yelled And threw unreturned punches

He saw my determination and threatened arrest But she was my freedom So when that failed He did what powerful men do best

He destroyed my reputation Everything I had left All it took was a speech And I was done for just like that

But his daughter was more important If I couldn’t have her I didn’t want to live So I kept coming back For she was my one and only love

So I would put up with it all The threats hanging over my head Because to me it was clear and certain: Without her I was no better than dead

I didn’t take his sudden silence as a warning I thought it was finally done Little did I know my trouble was far from over Like the calm in the eye of the storm

She came to me crying one day Knees scraped and bloodied Tears painting her dust covered face Like rain in the desert sands

Through gasps and sobs I learned the mayors plan: Ship his daughter across the country Marry her off to a wealthy man

She had escaped her home But her absence would be discovered soon A decision was to be made Under the waning moon

Have this be our last meeting Or never see home again I told her, “Run away with me.” It came as naturally as breathing

Because I had nothing more to lose But for her, there was everything to I already led a life of hardship and poverty While she lived one of laziness and luxury

Her choice was agonizing But I think we both knew In the end there was no competition So goodbye it was

We were too different She and I And fate was never on our side Maybe in another life, my love…