and

And they arrived, the sky began to darken.
And the time had come, a reckoning, a time for retribution,
And a time for restitution.

And he glanced at her, and she returned it, a lingering glance,
And it was full of poems and promises, full of love and full of joys and sorrows,
And catching it, and keeping it, gave him hope for their tomorrows.

And she waited for his summoning with her guilt pressing like a weight,
And he waited for her readiness, for fulfilment of their fate,
And each was waiting for the other in synchronised, harmonised perfection.

And then he beckoned to her, and gradually she came,
And gently laid across his lap,
And she was his to claim.

And he spoke to her as if to a child who must be reassured,
And blanketed by the rhythm of his words she was more assured,
And what he'd said was velvet, and warm and soft and safe,

And only then he began.

And as his hand first fell, lightening sheeted cross the sky
And the first red mark marred the once pale flesh and her wish was to fly,
And she jerked and struggled with the motion of his hand,
And each relentless blow did her lesson teach
And the sea threw and rolled the boulders on the stony beach.

And forked lighting broke the sky
And the storm it lost its sound
And the rain mingled with the tears that soaked the once dried ground.

And then he ceased her punishment
And touched her with deep love,
And he knew his task was finished and and blessed the moon above,

And he whispered words of comfort, to lessen her distress
And her grief no more suppressed she was quiet spent and sore,
And a tranquil breeze replaced the storm and hail lashed down no more.

And he raised her up and held her and so eased both their pain
And she gazed into his face and saw it was cleared of the strain.
And she saw he adored her still, and peace came to her eyes,
And growing closer in the dawn they knew loves binds and ties,
And sitting each enfolded they looked to the golden skies.
And knew a new and greater warmth, in the light, as the sun did rise.

The Legacy

They did not tell me.
They didn't say that you were lost
When the storm swept to the shore,
And you not with the boat
But floating in the sea unbreathing.

They said that you'd be found.
I had thought they meant alive.
A lifeboat maybe, or a limb from the ship
On which you'd surviving cling,
And come back to me.

And I believed them,
As I had always believed you
When you said you'd never leave me.
And I clung to my hope and faith in both
Waiting to touch you again.

You were warm, and made me myself
Made me feel no shame in bending to your will.
For your will was my will, and my will yours,
Together we were a whole being.
Life was long and love filled.

We shared, we cared, we dared
To explore all of life's riches.
Made some fantasies live, and let others go.
No dream this but a nightmare
Which I will live forever.

But I will rise now and go,
For you would not want me to linger here.
Hopeless and bereft now,
I will be strong again
For this is what you taught me, your legacy to me
And I will live it for you.