Before and After

My thought-life was divided in two for such a long time; ‘before the wedding’ and ‘after the wedding’. Thus, I find myself looking for new before’s and touching softly the long ‘ever-afters’

…and now I wonder; what hidden ‘before’

Lurks in the hours that fall

The ‘after you’ of many a love

Has no ending point at all

But the ‘before’ is a breath-by-breath race

To unknowns that we cannot tell

I have known pinnacles in love’s embrace

And loneliness akin to hell

Thus expectation divides my intent

‘befores’ are an intricate thing

It is the path leading to the advent

Of what ‘ever-after’ will bring

Synchronized free-fall of heart-ache and laughter

Caught in the middle of ‘Before’ and ‘After’

© Janet Martin

I chuckled the other day as I watched my daughter’s impatience; her eagerness to get everything in place, her dreams of ‘their place’ and I wanted to say, oh, my precious, you’re gonna miss this!’

so, I take a slow walk around the house and whisper, 'mom, you're gonna miss this'