Ambiguous Love: Part 1
Picnics in meadows amongst wild flowers
Listening to a babbling brook passing the hours
Bathing in sunshine skinny-dipping in streams
Hiking purple moors living out their dreams
He was the life of every party with a smiling face
Making up children’s stories about a cat in space
He was the ghost round every corner at Halloween
The actor on the stage always stealing the scene
She loved that he remembered all her likes
She was thrilled when he bought the touring bikes
Joined a cycling club to see the countryside
Sun wind rain or hail they’d make the ride
Lives closely bound with love they were sharing
Recognizing needs but never overbearing
Spreading happiness in their community
Willing to help others at every opportunity
That weekend they planned to cycle to the lakes
Beyond Red Ridge Hill where the sun awakes
A slight headwind so he would take the lead
Loving the long descent taken at speed
He never saw the car that failed to yield
Bouncing off the windscreen landing in a field
They waited for an ambulance and feared the worst
Their dreams now seemed a bubble that had burst
Copyright: David Hopcroft May 2025
Ambiguous Love: Part Two
He lay there for five weeks then she felt his hand
A gentle squeeze only she would understand
Then the flicker of an eyelid bringing hope
A moment when she felt a lump in her throat
Now she recalls his first words “Who are you?”
Inside she felt that she already knew
Her husband was now living in another place
In a world where there was no familiar face
As the weeks passed he retreated into a shell
There were only strangers and no memories to tell
She worried as she watched his life fading away
The gloom descending and shortening every day
Sitting in the garden he seemed fascinated by bees
Though often falling asleep beneath cherry trees
Then his interest grew and he bought a hive
She realized a part of him remained alive
Together they found an interest they could share
Together began to show each other greater care
Though some mornings he awakened still a stranger
She no longer felt their love was in danger
To him she was a first love without a past
A stranger forming new memories as time passed
Whilst she had learned to love a second time
Two loves split apart were now to realign
Copyright: David Hopcroft May 2025
Park Bench Tales and other writings 