[Note: This poem was commissioned by Kendall as part of the ward service auction. I consciously modeled it after Alexander Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", which is a famous Russian novel-in-verse. Much of the mood and style of what I wrote resembles (or tries to resemble) parts of that work. This also probably explains why the protagonist's roommate has the Russian name of Vasia. As with "Eugene Onegin", this poem is written as a series of sonnet-like stanzas of 14 lines, although my meter and rhyme are far looser than that of "Eugene Onegin" or the translation that I have. The poem is strange and maybe not the most romantic thing, but I like it and hope you will find much to relate to in it. Happy Valentine's Day, I guess!]
I
Aden Alecanteson
Slumped deep into a gloomy chair,
Slapped a hand across his anguished face
And wept in total despair.
His sniffs and sputters sadly sounded
Across the library's vast expanses
Though in reality great were the chances
That none cared for his sincere sorrow.
Sitting back and wiping tears from face,
Ruffling blondish hair, he sighed
Then thought of her enchanting look –
And with renewed vigor, broke down and cried.
When ever did love deep and profound
Give up and die without complaint or sound?
And so, dear Aden with his heart fresh broke
There and then a quiet prayer outspoke:
“Oh that I might never feel again
Merciful numbness I beg Thee lend,
My God, who let this catastrophe
Of love grind my poor heart!
Take from my sight all beauty, all grace.
Kill affection before it can start!”
Again he wept with fiery tears,
His hopeless prayer ascended to Heaven,
And drowsily but in earnest he muttered,
“Never again, no never, never again.”
And Heaven listening with purpose fixed
Carefully considered the broken man's wish.
He flung himself, upon reaching home,
On his bed, and made his sorrows known
Pounding his fists on his miserable pillow
And wailing and writhing and letting himself go.
Into the room burst his apartment-mate
Who with righteous anger roared to his side
And slapped him up, knocked some sense right in.
“Cease this slobbering at once!” with wrath he cried.
Caught red-eyed in disgraceful mid-snivel
Like a shamefaced child Aden sat upright.
Tears ceased at once, and all but one stray sniffle
Went silent. He looked beat down by the fight.
The roommate – Vasia – sat down by his side.
“Look man, you disgrace, pick yourself up, take some pride!”
Vasia's words bit with truth's harshness.
Aden, shocked into uprightness
Listened as his friend infused him
With hope, and vigor, and vim.
Though it was winter's bleakest darkness without
Within his heart awoke new spring.
Aden jumped brightly to his feet
And very nearly started to sing.
“My good Vasia, I am newly resolved.
A different feeling within my heart has evolved.
No more the depths of despair to contemplate,
I determine here and now – to get a date!”
Vasia thought he felt the apartment building shake,
Saying, “That tends to happen when a man confronts his fate.”
II
Her name was Gail, and there she lived
In the house around the corner
Where she and four friends, plus their cat,
Lived fourteen lives of ardor.
She had no need for love nor men.
She had loved before, but ne'er again
Would she stake her heart on something so hard to win –
She thus was Cupid's perfect victim!
But not wholly resigned to single abandon
As yet, she threw a great party
A grande fête for friends and foes alike
At her place, at nine o'clock starting,
To show the world that she had turned out right
And could succeed without being any man's wife.
That night the neighborhood in uproar
Flocked to the party, flocked to the table
Of feminine hospitality offered elegantly.
All laughed and stayed as long as able.
Aden amongst these was not least eager
To meet these ladies of such renown.
With Vasia he'd arrived with a flourish,
Though their coming was ignored all around.
Yet feast and flirt, amuse, acquaint, enjoy,
With skill and style they carried out their task
And with the hour chiming midnight
Aden met the hostess at long last.
When they spoke he felt he already knew her,
And saw, of course, that he'd have to woo her.
The next day, with Vasia keeping time,
He called her up, got her on the line,
Then asked her out, waited as she thought.
Sweet Gail replied, “Absolutely not!”
With abrupt click their conversation ended,
Aden's heart for pain now freshly rended.
Vasia urged his roommate to be strong,
Citing parables of fish and ponds.
“I won't despair!” declared quavering Aden.
“Haven't I made a firm commitment
To get a date? No such punishment
will dissuade or make me jaded.”
Thus roused once more he called twenty ladies,
Getting three nos, one yes, and sixteen maybes.
He and the one who had accepted
Went out a-courting on the cheap.
Amongst the others that he dated
It was she who brought him loss of sleep.
In time things took a turn towards serious
And he found himself in need of flowers.
So he stood in line for two whole hours
To procure his girl a fine bouquet.
As he stood he got a tingling in his side –
'Twas just his phone. A call from Gail vibrated
And against his will he felt a pang.
He reached, but hesitated as it rang,
Then picked it up (which stopped its ringing)
Though not quite sure what he was thinking.
III
What had she contemplated to thus call him?
She wondered. What would he do, or say, or think?
How could she explain to him whom she'd spurned?
How dared she hope, or wish, or dream?
Aden answered, and Gail asked her question,
Told of her pain and of her past,
Explained the change that had transformed her
And made her importune at last.
She heard his certain indecision,
His most decided incertitude.
She heard his thanks, even contrition
And disclaimers for being rude.
At last she heard his firm refusal.
She cried and vowed endless recusal.
Her heart in loneliness had wandered
For some years, though she had not realized
With what pain, until Aden's call made her ponder.
It was then that affection materialized.
Seeing him softened her old hardness further,
Seeing his smile and laughter in the neighborhood.
Though plain were his clothes and old was his auto
She thought his way seemed somehow noble and good.
She had summoned a great store of courage to ask him
If they might not give it a shot after all
But by that same prerogative by which she'd refused him
Aden unilaterally rejected the aim of her call.
Now bitter rejection from her past came returning
And brought to the spurner her own sweet dose of spurning.
Unmoored once more her heart went a-drifting.
For weeks her life passed like the sands in their shifting,
With former hopes breaking and bending and rifting,
Her heart depressed, her spirits not lifting.
It was strange to mope over someone so distant
Whom she'd hardly met – it seemed downright stupid
Yet there she was with her tears and her ice cream,
“Return to Me” replacing yet one more failed dream.
Though she had no Vasia to keep her in line –
Indeed very few with which she shared her mind –
Gail knew she was stuck, needed to get unblocked,
So off with the movie, out the front door she walked,
Only to see with unexpected surprise
Aden, and a girl who had tears in her eyes.
IV
He had told her no, Gail whom he fell for.
He had turned her down cold sans explanation
As he stood there to buy a bouquet for another,
Yet all this was not done without hesitation.
Still he had tried to court that lady
Whose enchantment deprived him of rest every night,
But the memory of Gail grew, with a gnaw and a fest'ring,
A worry that he had not chosen aright.
He loved the girl that he bought the bouquet for,
Nonetheless he began writing out many rain checks
On affection and kindness that should have been hers then.
Soon their relationship was, bona fide, a train wreck,
And he moved that they as a couple should end.
Her tears were merely the trough of a longer-term trend.
Gail saw the tears as she stepped out her front door
But quickly turned round, refusing to spy more.
She secretly struggled, shied from inward enjoyment.
Nonetheless to her roommates her voice seemed ebullient.
Then she cried one more time
And set to wait and to hope,
Kept busy each day with her work, but felt tense,
As if living her life way up high on a tightrope.
Aden tried hard not to dance on the relationship's casket
Concerning the one for whom he bought the bouquet,
But his motive could not remain forever secret
And Vasia urged him more strongly with each passing day
Not to wait and not to unwisely refrain.
Saying “If it's good then you can choose without shame.”
And so one fine and cheerful spring morning
With two cones of ice cream in hand
Aden knocked at Gail's door with a laugh and then waited
Not caring how long he might have to stand.
Had it really been three months
Since he'd met Gail, that fine beauty?
Did he have it in him to do what it would take?
He wagered that he could live up to the duty.
When Gail emerged they both smiled simply.
Aden proffered a cone with chocolate and swirl
And they sat there and talked for five blessed hours,
One happy guy and one happy girl.
So with gladness they set to that endless adventure
Of living their two lives as one life together.
