Three Unfinished Fragments of a Poem, Now in Its Fortieth Year

 BEGINNING:

There flows in life,

This river wide,

That parts we two,

To either side.

But, where'er my lot,

My thoughts confide:

My heart, with you,

Doth there reside...

MIDDLE:

...Affluent was,

This pauper then,

Whose fortune was,

To know you when.

Your worth alone,

Was wealth, my yen;

Surpassing that,

Amassed by men...*

END:

...To you therefore,

These posies flow.

The fleeting days,

Per annum go.

Should yet they lead,

Not to, but fro,

I pen this note,

That you may know,

It's you I love,

And you I deem,

Hath the fashion,

Formed my dream:

Two hearts thus joined,

Two airs one theme:

A bridge to span,

That starry stream.

So part in peace,

I'll wait the more.

Upon this bank,

My treasures store.

Til lyral weaves,

Our flights implore,

No other love,

Shall go before.

-antaresrichard-

*(I only added the four stanzas just now, some forty years later!)