This Old Mechanical Heart

 
A song comes on
Memories are sparked that were once lost to time
Wondering where my adolescence went
Bound by the bonds of a cruel fate’s design…
 
A glance leads to curiosity
When her eyes gaze closer at me in the dim light
The device ticks away behind a glass door on my chest
This old mechanical heart is wound every night
 
How old are you? She asks
I grin remembering my youth back in 1849
Too old, I reply with a smile, gazing into her eyes
A secret I carry with me after such a long time
 
The wrinkles on my face
Have slackened by the machine and all of it's parts
But in her fantasy she believes I may be a vampire
I just have been cursed by this old mechanical heart
 
She looks deep in my eyes  
Her soft lips caress mine while I…dwell in the moment  
My fingers trace the outline of her beautiful face
Knowing that time again will bring me torment
 
That was in Spring, 1986
 
I saw her today at a French café with her family
A husband, adult children, some grandkids and more
Her hair was white while she wore a blue sundress
Looking just as beautiful as she did decades before
 
There was a quick glance like when you see a ghost
The face she once loved and couldn’t stand to be apart
But I put on my fedora and walk away again lost in time
Cursed by this old mechanical heart