It’s half-past heartbreak
The pain grips like a snake
There’s nothing to stop the ache
Once upon a better time
Wasting youth was such a crime
Pride it only cost a dime
It’s long past sorrow
There’s no joy here to borrow
I still pray he calls tomorrow
Third times a charm or so we learn
In slavery until we are adjourned
And so the same ole pages turn
These forty years I only yearn
© Delia Ross. 2019