JEWELS OF AUTHENTICITY

A Suspect Device

I have encountered a suspect device

once or twice

I have taken two vows,

served two seven year stretches

Lived my life for another

Kept my emotions undercover

Love made me fly

but eventually

it clipped my fledgling wings

An angel was borne

Out of every trying phase

my hope for love and life

were appropriately raised

A gorgeous son, Alastair

A princess of a daughter, Rachael Alice

But my dreams and soul

were taken to the slaughter

My first associate

stabbed me in the back

She did not support me

when times were grey and black

She was no longer willing

to come out and play

I told her to go away

She blew hot, cool and then colder

She developed a massive chip

on her slanted shoulder

She's since spent twenty years

trying to bring me to tears

She's dedicated her life to getting even

She's left no stone unturned

I am so glad that I decided

to alienate her by leaving

She's fleeced me of money

She took my roof

and that didn't feel funny

She tried to take my dreams

but nothing is as easy as it seems

for a person who's so shoddy

and has not one ounce of compassion

in her body

I found another associate, friend and lover

and she gave me solid support and respect

I didn't have to go under cover

I trusted her

Initially I never felt the need to suspect

that things could or would go wrong

A princess of a daughter

for whom I'd sail across land and water

They both gave me hope

They gave me life strategies

with which to cope

I no longer had time to mope

My first wife disease

had been cleansed with loving soap

I no longer felt the need to elope

or to make a constant prayer to the pope

My heart and soul

were no longer bound by rope

I had another chance to enjoy life

and at it's strings I groped

Yes, I coped

I enjoyed

seven years of emotional bliss,

many a loving kiss

My life was no longer hit and miss

It should have always been like this

Then a bolt struck out of the blue

to which I did not have the slightest clue

I was no longer one of the chosen few

and I didn't know what to do

My life had come apart at the seams

It needed glue

My love left me for another

Yet I still loved her

as she was and is

my beautiful daughter's mother

My soul felt old, used and not new

I was about to join the divorcee queue

I had developed a different life view

Now over ten years have travelled by

and I no longer live a loving lie

I have accepted life's everyday challenges

I have become accustomed to the past

and I am on a high

I no longer wish to die

I manage to get by

with a smile

and I rarely cry

except with pride

because I have made

something of my life

even though I have been betrayed

by many a woman and wife

Hallelujah!