A recent relationship of mine was breaking down.  It led me to think about love and committed relationships and how in my case the “Happily Ever After” has escaped me.  I don’t know if other women have employed a magic formula to get them down the aisle or in serious relationships.  Can someone tell me the secret, please?  But at my grand age, falling in love and staying in love have eluded me.  I find it incredibly sad!

Falling in Love is Easy

I was raised to err on the side of caution
To be mistrustful
Of strange men
And they’re all strange men
To protect myself from anyone
With impure intentions
I would not end up being used and spat out
But I would end up
Alone.

Now my family ask
“Where is your boyfriend
Your husband
Your child?”
I’ve spent a lifetime saying “No” to every man’s advance
Like a consumer dismissing a promotion
Rejecting what is being promised
Instead I’ll be consumed by desire, my destiny and divinity.

When should I have begun to say “yes”?
Was I to say “no”
Push past attention
Close my heart to affection
Gorge out the eyes of admiration
And still achieve marriage?

Falling in love is easy
First you say “I like you”
Then “I love you”
You put your hand in another’s
You behave kindly
You navigate life as a team
Leaping over every obstacle
Traversing every crossroad
Scaling every setback.

The last guy I was with said
“I like you” for the six months we were together
He never got beyond that.

Falling in love is easy
Staying in love – I’m yet to master.