Lover weep no more,
Only death and tax are certain,
Love is either/or.
Yesterday’s hot shout of joy,
Lips to lips engaged,
Will tomorrow shrink to scorn,
Words become unpaged.
Heart-struck loss but burns the stubble,
Lifestyle gurus hint,
Fallow land fresh shoots will throw,
Sun on furrows glint.
Facebook page and LinkedIn profile,
Speed dates and the like,
Soon make lovers, (or for poets,
A workshop's "open mic").
Sexting, smutty mobile chats –
Modern love is crass –
Capture hearts as yesteryear
Flowers for the lass.
None are modest, none might blush,
Words entwist like snakes,
Mirrored images we are,
Then the mirror breaks.
Underneath the weeping willow
Lover weep no more,
Deep as oceans, pure as air,
Love is neither/nor.
====================
© September 2016
For those who prefer more contemporary images I can offer, for the penultimate stanza, the following:
None are modest, none might blush,
Texted words are snakes,
Flat screen, one-shot stars we are,
Then the flat screen breaks.
