Breakable...

Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?

Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts

So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,

And to stop the muscle that makes us confess

They met in law school and, to follow the age old cliche', it was love at first sight. I vividly remember viewing their relationship as if through a frosted windowpane, eager to join them inside by the fire. They had a love that was timeless; one that many envied. Including myself. After a while they started to almost resemble one another and their first names became one in conversation. AmyandAllan.

And we are so fragile,

And our cracking bones make noise,

And we are just,

Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys

He had crooked glasses and, upon drinking too much rum, attached his Ipod to his shorts and scrubbed the house into limp submission. Rage Against the Machine was his poison. We giggled and pointed. It didn't fit his look. He was a bookish nerd with a death metal soul. He smoked; cigarette dangling from his fingers. He walked with a deliberate shuffle. Eager to get on with life.

And you fasten my seat belt because it is the law

In your two ton death trap I finally saw

A piece of love in your face that bathed me in regret

Then you drove me to places I'll never forget

They married in November of 2001 on a day that denied the coming of winter. The sun shone and the air was warm against our strapless shoulders. We danced and drank and they looked at each other and no one else. They were the essence of love. On a vacation with us a few years later they created life. The scandal. Were they just in the next room?

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,

And we are just,

Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys

And then fate, deciding he was needed for other endeavors, took him. In a blinding flash of light she was now solo. The essence of love snuffed out. If we try hard enough can we still remember the timbre of his voice? If you stare long enough at a picture, can you travel there? If life takes your love, does it still exist somewhere?

It does. It will. We will all make sure of that.

To Allan Wertz

September 8, 2009

Husband

Father

Friend