Age 14
I pray you want to hear
It started one late summer's night
Please let me bend your ear.
She walked into the dance hall
Or flowed might best describe
She didn't seek the spotlight
Oh how my heart did fall.
I saw the light bounce off her hair
And luminate her smile
A smile I'd come to know so well
A smile I still hold dear.
A boy I was, but yet I knew
Her innocence was pure
I shyly moved near to her
And didn't feel the floor.
We danced a little while that night
Enough to make me ache
Somehow I knew she'd touched my life
I thought she'd be my wife.
The distance kept us both apart
The phone lines kept us near
I longed to hold her to me
But never did declare.
One cold and stormy winter night
By chance, or destiny
With miles to walk before me
Her smile again appeared.
Here was this precious angel
Newspapers in her arms
I tried to shield her from the wind
I thought from all life's harms.
She took her white cap from her crown
And placed it onto my mine
"You've far to walk this stormy night
Please call when you arrive".
But never once did I speak out
Not once did I dare say
I wish you'd be my steady girl
I love you as a friend.
The summer came so quickly
Not all young boys demured
I watched her being courted
And still remained assured.
I prayed to God, I'm sure I did
"Please God I ask of thee
Don't let her heart attach another
Please God save her for me".
And on a warm late summer's night
The sirens beckoned me
A young boy ran to see a crash
Then life began to bleed.
While she lay broken, doctors near
Her parent's hearts so torn
I prayed outside the ICU
"Please God remove this thorn".
The choice could not be easy
Each day they'd miss her more
The doctors said she'd left us
And her parents made love soar.
I sat outside the funeral home
I think for all three days
I found the strength and courage
To help in her cortege.
So many times I did return
To sit and cry and smile
To lay a flower at her crown
To pray, "God, one more mile".
Twenty years have passed me by
Still asking how and why
The papers carried in her arms
Now carried God's reply.
The doctors asked permission
And her parents did agree
Another child lay dying
Sandra's love has set her free.
