Five Room Love Story

I met her in a church on a Sunday evening

not late on a Saturday night.

She sang Ave Maria a little flat and out of tune

but that's what drew me to her so that's alright.

As she placed a nickel in the basket that I held before her

I asked her to be my wife.



There's one cardboard heart for every time you said I love you,

a painted star for every secret that we shared,

the dried lima beans and small plastic birds

because you cared.



I hear them talk and I watch them swap their old black and whites.

Bitter and beaten they talk of life's cheatin' like old boxers comparing scars.

All I remember is a smile at the top of every working morning

and a shoulder always willing and able

and all those nights that we'd spend just sitting

and talking around our kitchen table.



Five rooms made stronger by the breaking and the healing

of the two hearts they protected within

and now one heart left aching, pasting and painting

these walls with memories of all that has been