St. Louis Nights
A wet St. Louis winters night
Feeling you by my side
Seemed to be all I’d ever need
But somewhere there I lost me
And somewhere there I lost you too
Not knowing what else I could do
Snowflakes covered everything
As I held you tight,
You slipped away to nothing
How did “true love” become so needy
When did “passion” become so greedy
Breaking all who seemed to care
Shaming all who seemed to dare
I was wrong
So were you
You were innocent
But I was too
Both too young to appreciate
The truth of a young love’s fate
Did you know
Iris still sings our song
Did you hear
The melody that makes a heartache to belong
There’s only one first love of a lifetime
The one that not meant to be but slips away
The one that comes up from time to time
The love that made you and breaks you to this day
I look back now years after our embrace
And bittersweet fills my face
Thinking of all the Missouri starlight
Knowing I left my innocence deep within those St Louis winter nights
(2003)
We all have a first love that teaches us the meaning of lust, of love, and of heartbreak. Mine was in St. Louis. I wrote this poem a couple years after moving home from college there. I will always think of that time with a mixture of happiness, fondness, and sadness. It was a time in my life of adventure, first love, and first true heartbreak.
