About fifteen years before I met Helen in 1975, I had a relationship where I felt a bit betrayed. What a laugh! When you don't even know yourself (not to mention the other person), how can you feel betrayed? I remembered that relationship as I looked at this second picture for Express Yourself Contest #23. Times have changed; I now have a wonderful relationship with my wife, Helen, and a wonderful relationship with God, the lover who showers your life with peace and bliss.

A Sacred Bath by Harry Kottler, 2007, 11”x14”,gouache and collage on black paper

The Lover Who Showers

Your Life

With Peace and Bliss

by Harry Kottler

There are trains to many places.

People wear so many faces.

Yet they don't know where life's race is

As they board their many trains.

Some board trains when they are lovers,

But, in time, they may discover

That their lover loves another,

And they're on another train.

In my youth, I longed for romance,

And one young lady I met by chance.

A month later, we held hands

on a train to Washington.

She was really very pretty.

I was really very smitten

And the two of us were sitting

On that train to Washington.

Back in New York, two weeks later,

We were scheduled for the theater

But, alas, I did not see her

When I came to pick her up.

I found out she had a lover.

She was smitten by another,

And, for a time, my heart was covered

By some anger and some grief.

This is not my only story

Of how romance made me feel sorry,

But disappointments led to glory

When I focused on the Lord.

You can take a train with someone,

But if you are still a young one,

You may soon become a glum one,

If you're smitten by a smile.

Be completely independent.

Make sure your heart is tended

Or it may need to be mended

Since you thought love was outside.

Love is always inside.

In the Lord, you must abide.

Though outer love can't be denied

It must, in some way, link to God.

Mundane romance has no power.

Give an inner bouquet of flowers

To God, the lover who can shower

Your life with both peace and bliss.

.............

With love and respect,

Harry and Helen