Poetry by Randal A. Burd Jr.

Scars of Unrequited Love

The sting of loss crept back into my life
When I learned lately you had passed away.
Abandonment, forsaken vows, and strife
Destroyed the bond we had one yesterday.

I grieved your loss before, so long ago.
I felt I failed despite how hard I tried.
In moving on, I learned to heal and grow,
But wonder what you meant and when you lied.


The time we shared, it meant the world to me,
The promise we would make and you’d rescind,
It did not last and was not meant to be,
But know you were forgiven in the end.


I’m sorry that your life has ended thus
But grieve not like the day you ended us.





A Mended Heart

I sometimes think about what could have been,
Reflecting on my choices, big and small.
I wonder how I would improve it all
And what I’d change could life be lived again.

Could I have traveled on a different path?
Forgone the unrequited love and pain?
Have understood my loss was still my gain?
That love was waiting in the aftermath?


The golden bands on our left hands remind
This careworn soul that someone cared to stay.
The heartache was the price I had to pay,
To reach the point where our two paths entwined.


A mended heart is stronger in the end
Than one pristine which never had to mend.





Randal A. Burd, Jr. is editor of Sparks of Calliope, an online poetry magazine, and a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee. He received his M.Ed. from the University of Missouri. He spends most of his days and evenings providing education to disadvantaged youth and adults. His latest poetry collection, Memoirs of a Witness Tree (Kelsay Books, 2020), is available from Amazon.com. You can find him on Twitter @colonelrandal.