When the threads were bronze <br />That kept me seperate <br />But before they turned to black <br />That would divide me even more <br />I met her in a grocery check out line <br />By what we mortals call chance. <br /> <br />If it was God or Devil that made the meeting <br />Only life beyond the grave can proof <br />But how strange that one so briefly met <br />Could cut and deeply <br />This ever striving soul. <br /> <br />Lean and forward and beautiful <br />She knew chaos when she saw it <br />And dispatched two pennies <br />To my rescue. <br /> <br />I wish I had said thank you <br />On the spot and invited her <br />To lunch or coffee or whatever <br />Was to be with so little introduction. <br /> <br />But I was fearful of her beauty <br />And an intensity of yearning <br />More powerful than sex <br />Her simple act of care had sparked. <br /> <br />Spark to dry tinder a fire makes <br />And months later I wonder at my cowardice <br />That hid behind stories of Will Stretch <br />And the gal he married who had turned down <br />A matrimonial proposal from <br />'Chesty' Puller a legendary marine. <br /> <br />A ring on my finger <br />And a ring on hers <br />These things attraction could not erase. <br />And hierarchy has its' morbid logic <br />But still in moments of dry marriage <br />I think about her <br />And feel the pull of two pennies <br />That may have carried more <br />Than clerks balancing their cents.<br /><br />Bill Grace<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/marine-corps-dog-lady/
