Rosalina

By Robert Ryan

In Chicago, the wind feels bitter as nips at your face

Where the day rushes forward as you try to keep apace

Where the mighty towers on the sky cast a dark silhouette

It was here, some summer ago, where I first met

My fair Rosalina

Rosalina, a name so beautiful just to speak it rouses pain

Crying out from the pit in my heart where memories of her remain

Their dissonance a cruel discomfort that I have long wished gone

And even then I still feel myself so abnegatingly drawn

To sweet Rosalina

Rosalina was a singer, a painter in the realms of sound

With the melody of her voice peace and beauty abound

When she sang, nightingales would be gall next to her

And then I would be in love next to her

Darling Rosalina

I would sit with the crowds all night and listen to her serenade

And watch her chocolate-brown tresses over her shoulders laid

Entranced with her movement as she sway in flowing claret dress

Feeling burning passions I could never hope to confess

To perfect Rosalina

How foolish it was to feel those feelings of hopeless worth

When I was but a pitiful soul doomed to walk the mortal Earth

And where she was a glorious angel from Paradise above

How could I ever dream in my sweetest dreams to receive love

From sublime Rosalina?

I marveled her from the distance for the longest biding time

Enthralled by the charm of this woman’s performance in her prime

My heart demanding to me that us two must soon meet

For my lonely heart did then anguish so bitter-sweet

For pure Rosalina

I was to speak with Rosalina once the crowd had all left

In hopes my uncertainties would not be kept unbereft

Even if she didn’t want to share an attraction with me

At least I could set my secret passions free

Of lovely Rosalina

But unexpected by me, she was completely understanding

I opened up my heart and she listened notwithstanding

She giggled when I spoke, her laugh like a milky, sweet balm

I felt truly elated now that I felt so calm

With doting Rosalina

Not only did she possess beauty which would make Venus revel

She understood me on a deeper, truer level

She’d listen and I would talk, or she’d talk and I would listen

And I’d sit there and watch the way her bright eyes glisten

Divine Rosalina

Never before in my life had I felt this way for someone

Never before could affection so speedily burgeon

As I stood with her, my heartbeat in my chest hammered

There was no hiding it, I was veritably enamored

With delicate Rosalina

I did everything I could to keep my Rosalina blithe

Write her poems, sing her songs, so my love for her would kithe

When I did for her, she would laugh and say, “I love you too”

And I would melt there with her appreciative coo

Beloved Rosalina

My adulation for her wouldn’t ever change

But after a while Rosalina began to act strange

Something was wrong with her that I couldn’t discern

And for the first time ever I began to feel concern

For cherished Rosalina

Before I’d never doubted that Rosalina was mine

And now I was worried her interest was in decline

All these doubts and vexations I wanted to refuse

But still I feared then that I someday may lose

My only Rosalina

Then one day it happened, to more sorrow than surprise

As she grabbed me by the hands and looked into my eyes

Her solemn pronouncement bore through my heart-so-broken

I was left all alone with those last words spoken

By tragic Rosalina

What unforgiving pit of Hell I occupied after

How I missed her face and dreamed of her laughter

How I cried for the days when our love seemed so star-crossed

Before I had dreamed of us, but now I had loved and lost

Grievous Rosalina

Time passed me by and I at night would sit awake

Telling myself to ignore my heart’s painful ache

But I would have never thought to have seen her again

In the arms of another person then

Treacherous Rosalina

Now I felt I had been lied to, now I felt betrayed

My face burned up hot like firing cannonade

My indignated emotions fiercely discage

And my heart exploded in a jealous lover’s rage

At heartless Rosalina

Feelings of envy and suspicion intertwined

As a sad despair dwelled within my forlorn mind

This was not the same woman who I used to adore

But now I wanted to dwell on nevermore

Ignoble Rosalina

Days, then weeks, then months passed by with little event

For my former episode I could barely lament

Back to normality my life had finally become

It felt like by then I had finally grown numb

To old Rosalina

In Chicago, the wind feels bitter as nips at your face

Where the day rushes forward as you try to keep apace

As I continue my life in sluggard remiss

Sometimes, even today, I find that I still miss

My fair Rosalina