The Night We Had Our Love Requited, Though Our Union's Uninvited

I have the mind and I’m inclined to say

It’s all right, it’s all right

That we danced before the moon tonight

That your pupils in this dark are bright

Though tomorrow this will go away

And I know tomorrow harks alight

While the wind coordinates tonight

I’ll be all right, I’ll be all right

I will not fight the break of day

I’m all right, I’m all right

Even the owls know that it ends tonight

That my bursting heart will break tonight

That you have her there wasting away

She’s waiting for you in the bay

But you’re all right and I’m all right

We’re overshadowed by tonight

We seem to find the words to say

Just what we never did tonight

It’s as if she never lived tonight

For I’m all right and you’re all right

And though we’ll never have our way

And I’ll be tortured for my joy tonight

I’m that girl and you’re that boy tonight

But I’ll be all right. I will be all right.

Note from the Poet, Jeanne Poisson:

This poem is fairly straight-forward. I chose to write in a certain intriguing rhythm instead of focusing too much on extravagant word choice. I hoped that the rhythm and the choice of simple, rhyming words at the end of stanzas as well as the specific words I chose to repeat put the feeling across to the reader of uneasiness and subtle pain in an almost monochromatic, robotic and detached manner.

This poem is a much-told tale of two soul mates who have been separated by time, space and circumstances. They meet again by chance many, many years later and he is married.

As these soul mates spend a night together as if they are two individuals bound by no rules but only bound to each other, the sadness that tomorrow is around the corner looms before them.

The poem is written from the point of view of the woman.  Even though she is deliriously happy, she is morally tortured by this event and she is also tortured by the fact that the night will end - and that can hopefully be felt through this poem.

I wanted to write this poem in the way that the "night" in question could be spent anywhere - in any time or place or era. By anyone, of any culture. That is because I feel that this fascinating aspect of human nature doesn't change.  And, surprisingly, from culture to culture, generation to generation, we all have fairly similar, deeply ingrained, morals when it comes to love affairs of this nature.