An old man reflects in his mind's eye, wondering how so much time could have passed him by.
His life had been a maze on the road of self-discovery, but tempting fate seemed his only mastery.
A smile emerges on his aging face while remembering a woman, feeling like it was yesterday. He always thought there would be tomorrow, never realizing those wasted days would bring such sorrow.
A lesson of love the old man would be learning, and his failure to express it would eventually leave him yearning.
His eyes closed; he pictured her beautiful face and felt a warm embrace. His heart becomes suddenly filled with the ache of regret while reflecting back on the feelings he hid and could not beget.
Her love had never been reciprocated, and he knew she had felt the sting of sadness only unrequited love can bring.
Tears appeared in his wrinkled eyes - his feelings he no longer wished to hide. Hoping for another chance, to make her smile and hold her - he vowed to say everything he had never told her.
For years the woman had loved the old man incessantly, never knowing how much she meant to a man whose feeling never shown. Before he could tell her what he felt all along . . . sadly, to the passage of time and loneliness, she had already succumbed.
~Kym L. Pasqualini