https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2128557-Sayanora-Lenore

Sayonara Lenore

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over routes and into buildings where I’d walked before—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my condo’s door.
‘Cross the room I slowly traveled, to unlock my condo’s door.
Scarcely could I manage more.

As I crossed I knew the stranger came to tell me of the danger
Faced by both myself and by my missing wife Lenore.
Poor Lenore, she had been taken, at our home there’d been a break-in,
By some hoodlums, god-forsaken—while I tended to the store—
For the ransom they’d requested all the contents of our store—
Was she gone for evermore?

I unlocked the door and noted, Sherriff Jeffries (now demoted
Due to hashish use which he was rumored to explore).
“Sir,” he said, “I am disgusted. Those at fault are those you trusted.
Your best friend tonight was busted with your wife Lenore.
‘Twas a plan they worked together, crafted by your wife Lenore.
Caused by lust and nothing more."

“Sir,” I said, “I had suspected. From our bed I’d been rejected,
But she said the reason I was ousted was I snore.
Now I know I have been cheated (and my store is not depleted),
I’ll be strong and not defeated – not be broken by Lenore.
Now the woman I once married – once addressed as 'My Lenore,'
Shall be nameless evermore."

Bolded section is from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."  The prompt was to use the first line from the poem and to make it a mystery.

For our anniversary - 28 years!!

Kevin,

For 28 years we’ve been happily wed.

(Well, maybe the happy’s for 20 instead.)

Our life has been good as we both often say,

with few major obstacles placed in our way.

Our highs or our levels are more than our lows;

as shared time increases, our harmony grows.

It’s quite a commitment to stay man and wife,
so thanks for devoting the all of your life.

Last Day of the Writing.com 30 Day Image Prompt contest!!

Brush Strokes

You see the world in black and white;
you’re right and I am wrong.
Sometimes I have to let it go
for us to get along.

But how I wish one day you’d see
the colors in between:
how you perceive the words I say
is not the way I mean.

Our minds don’t process thoughts alike,
our genders aren’t the same,
nor is the way we each were raised.
It’s not a case of blame.

It’s understanding differences,
appreciating hues.
I paint my thoughts with reds and greens
and you paint yours with blues.

It doesn’t mean one’s right or wrong.
Respect each other's art.
There's truth in words we each convey
from palettes far apart.