Snapshots of My Heart

If Anne had stood her ground

And ignored the prejudice

Of her family and friends

Perhaps her happiness

Would have been secured

Much sooner

~

But there is a sweet joy

That comes from waiting

And a singular love

That blossoms from patient hope

~

If Frederick had returned

On the very day

In which his fortunes were improved

And sought Anne’s hand without delay

His happiness would certainly

Have been realized sooner

But their love would only have matured

A very little

~

Picture Anne

With Frederick

Hand in hand

In their golden years

Remembering years gone by

~

I do not see regret in their eyes

Or hear it in their voices

When they speak of the waiting years

~

Frederick’s voice is strong

And his face wrinkles into a grin as he remembers:

“I attempted to convince myself that

I had never loved you at all

That our relationship

Was only a burst of passion,

A feeling I could feel

For any other woman.

~

Louisa’s fall in Lyme

Brought me suddenly back to reality

With only three thoughts

Clear in my mind.

~

One was that your tendency to be persuadable

Was no more a flaw than Louisa’s determination to be unpersuaded.

Indeed, your flaw suddenly seemed the wiser of the two.

~

The second clear thought

Was a firm and final admittance to myself

That I did not,

Indeed could not, love Louisa Musgrove.

~

The third thought

Shortly following the second in a burst

Of sweet and stinging realization

Was that I still loved Anne Elliott.

Even the fear that she would not love me in return

Could not change this certainty.”

~

Anne’s voice is clear

And her eyes speak

With candor

Of love

For her old captain

As she remembers:

“In the days of our young love

I did not yet fully comprehend

The immeasurable value

Of a happy marriage.

~

I came to see it soon enough however

As I observed

Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove

Admiral and Mrs. Croft

And Captain and Mrs. Harville.

~

The union of these couples

Brought joy and goodness

Not only to themselves

But to everyone who knew them.

~

I came to long for that kind of joy and goodness for myself.

Over time

This longing

Drove the fear of displeasing

My proud and petty

Family members

Far into the background.”

~

Come, reader

We must leave them now

To savor the sweetness

Of memory

Side by side.

~

Yet I hear them call after us:

“Don’t forget to treasure the waiting”.