Before You Came

On the day before you came
The world was more or less the same:
Preachers lied and children grew,
Virgins cried and soldiers slew;
But one thing set that time apart –
The emptiness within my heart.

I had come to place my trust
In borrowed love. Each bartered lust
Would offer up the false relief
Of evening joy (and morning grief)
And girls with half-remembered names
Who filled my nights before you came.

On the day before you came
All making love was just a game
Decided by this rule of thumb:
Had I made my partner cum?
And if she came, then who could state
That such love was degenerate?

But in my heart I think I knew
That somewhere there were girls like you.
It’s just that I mistrusted fate
To end the endless, heartless wait,
But now recall with heartfelt shame
The man I was before you came.