Pain-filled days run long
and hope is dashed with careless words.
Love is lost in a night's sleep and reawoken in hopeful dreams
Only to be found dead in the morning light.

Longing for the days when hope was fresh,
Mornings were happy,
Love was not yet realized;
and aware that such hours are long since past and gone.

Constantly in thought, and permanently in heart
longsuffering always, and belonging to none
Wishing for what will never be and dreading that which will -
Lonliness is a close friend.

Yet remember that speck of hope.
Small and half-fogotten though it maybe be.
Declaration of affection; a bold kiss; a soft breath.
Being held and the happy warmth that follows - welcome always.

Such are dreams - fruitless and unyielding.
Life totters on, responsibility follows.
Thirty-One failures to mock the wanderers. The hopeful.
Reality settles in and tears are shed in sorrow.

Moving beyond limitations - fantasies are hope turned sour.
Growing up and leaving behind childish imginations
Girls cry in their wake and are left broken in their shadows
Strengthened in healing, young women are matured.

And then, relief either comes
or it doesn't. But still years pass and hearts are broken.
Pain-filled days still run long, even for their daughters.
and hope is still dashed with the careless words of men.

Yet remember that speck of hope, small and fogotten it may be.
That declaration of affection, the bold kiss, and a soft exhalation
The hand clasped and the warmth felt in the summer light.
In hope there is pain and despair. And life.

Long yet do I for the pain, if only for a glipse of happiness.