The Engineer

On looking back he saw it now, and now it all made sense –
That decade ride of whirling life of myrrh not frankincense –
She'd finished up a pressured time – external, from without,
But as the kids went out the door, she paused a while to pout.

As engineer he'd been laid off the year before the jolt,
Right in the midst of turbulence (with pressure to revolt);
One day he'd gone out for a drive to ease the social pain;
He drove and drove to nowhere fast but turned back home again.

God said to him, “Just like that sign, ‘Get in, Sit down, Hang on,
Shut up’, this portion will not last, ’cause here's what's going on:
Those chemicals I poured into her body years ago,
To make her able to have kids are switching, high to low.

You were not round when I did that, nor viewed those troubled times;
You came onto the scene once she'd become a woman fine.
But now you get to be here while I cut them back for her,
So hold onto your baseball cap, you'll find this quite absurd.

So he'd gone back and set his jaw, then smiled as best he could;
He saw now his performance was not perfect like it should;
But then it ended, signalled, back that day she'd said that word:
“I can no longer wait for you”, then took off like a herd –

Of horses thundering o'er the plain, some spirit wild within;
He watched and shook his head with wonder – was this good or sin?
Whatever – it was something else, he scrambled from her path;
And looking back these ten years hence, he had to stop and laugh.

It was like those machines he'd worked with all his adult years
More vinyl, tape, and CD, DVD, than Blu-Ray – gears
That snapped to action once the pause released to play the tune –
It put great pressure on the parts as music filled the room.

She'd burst to life no longer tossed by pressure from outside,
But something like a bomb went off in her at start of ride.
Ten years she'd whirled, and danced, and sang, as she her passion chased;
He let her run, and heard God say, “For this, too, you'll be graced”.

He saw a woman recently positioned at the gate
And getting off on helping women passions to embrace.
It seems she got a rush from watching bombs go off inside
Her clients as they pause released and started on their ride.

“Well, good, I hope she has a blast, for me one is enough,
Up close and personal it is a decade that is tough;
Especially since the company shut down their outlet here –
To wait for her, watch her take off, made for a tough ten years”.

But now, like horses on the plain, her energy is spent.
She's slowing to a canter now, and wonders where it went –
The burst of energy that fed that decade quite sublime
And wonders if there'll be a life in her remaining time.

So now he canters up to her, takes up her pace at last;
They laugh and reminisce about the ruckus time now past.
“It's like Nahani River where I paddled with my friends –
The river widens to a lake once foam and rapid ends”.

They celebrated yesteryear then turned their thoughts ahead,
Between their past and sometime hence when they would both be dead.
“Hey, come on let's see what there is on quiet lakes out there;
I'm sure”, he said, “there is some more, if venture out we dare.”

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