Ode to Jean

Ode to Jean

The hall is dark, the band has laid away their tools of joy,
No light gleams from mirror’d ball to swirl around the floor,
The dance has ended for you and I, I must with sadness let you go,
No longer does the music play, night descends and the dance is oe’r.

For thirty years, nay more, the band played as we danced the night away,
In the swirl of bodies gliding across the shiny floor,
We danced as though we were alone, for truth to tell we paid no heed,
But with sadness I must let you go, the band has quit, the dance is oe’r.

Though the dance is oe’r and the years have so swiftly passed us by,
I asked if you’d like to dance, and with shy smile you said yes,
Your blue eyes laughing, as hand in hand we walked across the floor,
And for the first time to my chest your body I then pressed.

Summer heat gave way to warmth of night as I held you years ago,
We danced the night away, with the joy of being just we two,
It seemed for all time with you in my arms I was now complete,
As we danced, I prayed to each other we’d be ever true.

Smile lines etched themselves around your eyes of azure blue,
As the night moved on, your hair turned to soft swirls of gray,
I paid graying hair and small lines small heed, and cared for nought,
I held you in my arms with light care as we danced the night away.

If I sometimes stepped upon your toe or missed a beat,
You shrugged it off with rare good grace and gentle smile,
In you my love, dwelt the quiet love and patience of the saints,
holding me tight you forgave my awkward gate and rude style.

The years have passed us by and the fiddlers tune we now must pay,
I know that we again will meet to carry on and join once more,
But the fogs of night around us swirl as your last leave you take,
My love for just awhile, the band has quit, the dance is oe’r.

Ronnie Wachuka

My tribute to my wife Jean for whom the dance ended on 16 November, 1995

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