When Did It Happen Poem by Tracey Hardie

I don’t know when it happened
or how, or when I created

the garden—
(a secret place
where I dare stroll daily
remembering and dreaming)

A place where
two glorious pure life-like statues
male and female
face each other
equally parted north and south

surrounded
by trees and flowers which forever
bloom. And where a constant gentle
breeze sways leaves

to play a melodious lullaby
only lovers can hear.

It is here—
in this garden where I am free to feel
(like a flower blooming)
and to love you endearingly
without regrets.

It is also here, I realized
one-sided love is sometimes as cruel
as time and reality—
cleaving the heart
and leaving us impotent.

My daily walks to this garden
have subsided to brief gazes
in its direction
acknowledging
a love that once was….