The Time Machine Prayer... Poem by Denis Martindale

One time machine, that's all I need,
Just one and one alone,
In one last effort to succeed,
No more just on my own...
For I'd return to long ago,
Undoing what went wrong,
To such a time, when faith was low,
Instead of standing strong...

Instead of doubting what could be,
Instead of silence kept,
Instead of such futility,
When I was so inept...
Oh, just one time machine, dear Lord,
To change my lonesome life,
To marry her, the girl adored,
If she'd become my wife...

Dismissing all those future dreams
That followed in her path,
When I recall how dull each seems,
Each makes me sigh not laugh...
To think, that I, with good intent,
Deprived myself so much,
Despite the knowing what love meant,
The pining for her touch...

Unkissed she stayed, unkissed I stayed,
Her smile still haunts somehow,
No wonder my heart aches dismayed,
Each day and night till now...
A young man dreams of married bliss,
With her, that special one,
Redemption in her precious kiss,
The mother of each son...

But hopes aren't always realised,
Good luck comes with the bad,
But she's the girl I sacrificed,
The girl I never had...
One time machine, then I'd propose,
Our family to raise,
Until my life came to a close,
God's mercies still to praise...



Denis Martindale, March 2016.