Please Understand...

"How come you're all alone?
Where is she? You can tell me
anything you know!"
Gabi's voice of concern urged me
To open up,
To pour out my heart,
To tell my tragic tale:

"I had the little box
in my pocket,
I was about to kneel,
When, suddenly, she
said that she's in need
of a little time apart...

She told me she was sorry,
That she didn't mean to hurt me,
That it was for the best..."
As the aeroplane jolted
abruptly, my heavy heart sank
further.

"Why would she say that?
After all you've done for her..."
Gabi's disappointment echoed
my own.
So I continued my blues:
"She met someone,
Someone who she never expected
to fall for.
And yet she did..."

"The nerve of that -"
"Maybe it was my fault..."
I contemplated out loud,
"If only I could have
made her stay..."

"Don't even go there!"
Gabi interrupted me.
"She is the one who walked away,
Even after you followed her
to a new country,
So far from the place you know,
A town you could call home.
And after all that, she leaves?
Leaves you standing
broken hearted?"

As the plane began to descend,
All that Gabi had said
began to sink in.
She was right!
There was nothing
I could have done,
Nothing to stop her,
Stop her from shattering my heart
into a million shards.

"But that doesn't mean
you have to run away,"
Gabby continued
as we waited in the passport queue.
"You have a new life now,
A good career.
Don't give that up
just because of one girl!

Look, I've known you
for a long time,
Since you were about two.
And the one thing I learned
was that you never back down.
Don't let this one girl
change that about you!"

And Gabi was right,
Right once again!
I can't move back
to the beginning,
I can't start over!
I have a new life now,
And she can't take
that away!

***

Back at the airport,
I didn't know how my tale
would end.
A few months had passed
until I saw Gabi again.

"Why would you do that!?"
She looked at me in surprise.
"How could you forgive her?
Don't you remember
the things she has done
to you?
How you felt when she left?
She left you with a broken heart
that could not mend."

I know how I must have seemed:
weak, foolish, insane.
But I love her...
"Gabi, I did not ever think
that I would have to
explain what forgiveness is;
Especially to you..."

These were the only
words I said,
But she understood.