I lay myself down
with a longing in my head.
Here next to my wife
in our inactive bed.

Slowly the silent tears
that come with every night.
Bring about the slumber
that frees me from my plight.

Suddenly I awake
to a presence in the room.
Staring at me sternly,
is a lady I felt I knew.

She stood encased in brightness.
Her dress was torn yet clean.
Half her face was lovely,
yet the other a horror unseen.

Raising her arms as if to hold me
I cringed at what I saw.
One as soft as rainfall,
the other burnt into a claw.

Her voice came from everywhere.
She spoke in echoes tongue.
Petrified with terror,
I prayed that day would come.

"I've heard your cries."
She said to me.
 "Your wife will have you not.
I've tested you with others,
yet your vows you have not forgot.

I offer you this, consider it well,
for another you shall not receive.
Take my arm, either one you choose,
to know pleasures you could not conceive."

I started to cry, for now it was clear,
just who I knew her to be.
Both her halves, if made into a whole,
would be every semblance of me.

Her half lovely face could only be
the desire I still held for my wife.
The blemished side, the physical neglect,
I seem treated to every night.

I turned form her, hiding my shame,
clinging to my wife who slept.
"You always chose her."
The echo said.
Then vanished as I wept.

If an answer is to be known
I have yet to find it,
though I'm convinced she loves me true.
So I try not to blame for our unequaled desires,
giving the tears their due.

Bey:\>
6-9-93

 

Song:
Grave
I Musici