Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

There’s always a first time.

Eyes meet and steal the known,

Tomorrow a heartbeat

That whispers, “What if..?”

And every possibility

A butterfly.

*

There’s always a next time.

A hopeful eagerness

Opens the secret heart

And shivers. “What if?”

Breathlessly anticipating

Every moment.

There’s always a that time.

A perfect certainty

In a fragile ocean

That defies ‘what if?’

A captured star in the sea-foam

Always sparkling.

*

There’s always a last time.

The numbness of sorrow

At parting and passing

That questions, “What if?”

The heart must choose regret or beauty

To remember.