LOVE WASHED OVER ME
Love washed over me
Arriving at my feet,
Like the lapping of waves
On a lonely beach
But it drifted away
On the ebb tide
FALLING IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Falling in love for the first time
Is like a fledgling leaning to fly
But will new love crash and burn?
Or will it blaze across the sky?
I ASKED CAROLINE OUT ON A DATE
I asked Caroline out on a date
At the start of the summer break
Neither of us had dated before
So there was quite a lot at stake
We met at the entrance to the park
And walked to the café on the lake
We sat at a table in the window
Where she had a strawberry milk-shake
Which she drank through a straw
But my choice proved to be a mistake
As I tried to be more grown up
And ordered coffee and cupcake
The coffee was bitter and something
In the cake caused a hives outbreak
Our second date was less eventful
But was far more memorable
AS ADMIRATION DWELLS
As admiration dwells
In following eyes
Such attraction can lead
To unwelcome advances
But equally it could be
The perfect stranger
So she takes her chances
In search of “The one”
SHE BROUGHT GLORIOUS SUNLIGHT
She brought glorious sunlight
To the darkness of my soul
And the coldness of my heart
For living alone had taken its toll
But just spending time with her,
Has shown me again how to live
And revealed just how much love
One special person can give
A CALL OF THE INNOCENCE
A call of the innocence
That was what it was
When the fifteen year old me
Picked up the phone
To call Theresa Flaherty
My palms were so sweaty
I could barely hold the phone
Whereas my mouth was so dry
I doubted I could speak
But I dialled the number
And I eventually got it right
On the third attempt
And then it seemed
To ring for an eternity
But then it was answered
“Hello” the sweet voice said
“Theresa?” I croaked
“Yes” she replied sweetly
“It’s Paul” I said “from school”
I don’t know why I added the last bit
“Oh hi Paul” she said
And I tried to gauge if it was
A despairing “oh hi Paul”
Or a pleasantly surprised one
But as I had never asked
A girl out before
I had no benchmark for it
So a few minutes passed
Of nervous small talk
Interspersed with awkward silences
As the heart in my chest pounded
And beat like an eagles wing
While my head throbbed
And my stomach
Was a flutter of butterflies
As I approached the reason for my call
And the question I had for her
Which I had been rehearsing all week
But it vanished from my mind
So in the end I rather abruptly blurted out
“Will you go to the pictures with me?”
“Oh” she exclaimed with surprise
And added “Yes I’d love to”
My heart was doing cartwheels of delight
But I had to try to remain calm
“That’s great” I responded and hung up
And so ended a call of innocence,
And then I cursed myself for being an idiot
So I rang Theresa again five minutes later
To discuss the date, place and time
And so began our first passion