The Love Trap by Nicole French

Part I

Singlet

“Grace”

I woke with light in my eyes,

The sun seeped at a slant,

And I sat up straight, though my head

Nearly crashed on the cement.

She flew away, a cudgeled bird,

A dove without her peace,

And left me here with rents her loss

Had torn from my chest.

I mourned and cried, but in the end,

I can’t forget her face.

It’s how I learned much more than love,

My marriage needed grace.

—from the journal of Eric de Vries