A Promise to My Wife

A PROMISE TO MY WIFE

But for you my bonnie lass


I would have quit, and this would have passed


In the greyest of light before the dawn


A line in the sand has near been drawn


From a pile of ash must the Phoenix yet rise


Else be cast aside without sweet reprise 

If not for you, the quiet would reign


Life’s canvas left empty of color’s pale stain


And so continue I will, without much lament


Hours of toil not yet eagerly spent


For in my life, the voice of one critic matters


It is for you my wife, that my silence thus shatters 

Forgive me this pause, for now I must rest


Tomorrow I shall work, but not at my best


And thus out of this retirement born


Words that were lost on pages once torn


This much I promise before the night


These words I have written will once more see light

                               - Jack Butler