Under the Moonlight

As you arrived, I watched your body step off of theVirgin-Atlantic flight,

You were radiant. Smooth dark skin, smiling, anticipating our embrace.

It was over two months that we were apart,

But now you were here.

Usually the heat of the day is almost unbearable,

But I stood in the sun watching you walk over the tarmac,

Above the tainted pink walls of the VC Bird International airport,

As you chatted away with a fellow passenger,

Probably about how long since you've seen me.

I waved as youpassed, and you didn't see me at first,

It was your acquaintance who pointed out the sole person above.

I could see the emotions plainly in your face as you looked up to see,

Joy, love, relief…the anxiety of waiting for that long awaited embrace.

I did not feel the same though, as you would later find out, but I smiled.

I missed you.

You ran to greet me once you had cleared immigration,

It felt so good, to be in your arms once again, and the kiss...

We shared a kiss filled with so much passion; and I gave you my usual squeeze,

But the kiss gave it away. You knew something was wrong but you let it go.

One, two, three days passed, and you began to search. You wanted an answer.

Why have you flown over 6000 miles to this little island?

For the love of your life, for the man who once made you feel so secure,

Who held you at night and kissed you every morning.

He loved you so dearly, that’s why you came. But he wasn't the same man.

You searched and searched and searched,

Something just wasn't right and you had to know.

Emails, instant messages, phone records.

It was all too much to bear.

You had to confront me.

And then we fought. We fought like the Carib tribes,

Defending their homes from the mighty English, Spanish and French, we fought.

I fought, as you begged for reasoning, why did I do this to our relationship you asked?

As I began to speak you cried,

Because all I could do was finally tell you how much it hurt.

I hated you for what you had done to me,

Though I would have kept it from you, you confronted me,

You gave me no choice but to tell you exactly how I felt,

And I hated you for that, because I never wanted to hurt you.

I told you how much it hurt me,

To know that you had been with someone else,

How much it hurt, though it was only once,

When our relationship was in its infancy,

It hurt as though we were together for years!

But you were the one I chose to be with,

How could you do that to me?

And now I was doing the same to you,

I wasn’t the same man that left you in cold London that day,

Promising to come back for you when I could.

I was an Antiguan man, a Caribbean man, a free man.

◄ END OF PART ONE ►