I saw him at the seashore,
Where he now spent his days,
His skin was aged and wrinkled,
His eyes a hollow gaze.

A moment he took to ask me,
How far it was I walked?
And with a weary smile, asked,
“You have a few to talk?”

He said I looked just like her
One he loved so long ago,
But fearing she’d prove unfaithful
He had chosen to let her go.

He told me of his children;
Two, he had, like mine,
Who never called or visited
For they never found the time.

And in this conversation,
The part that made me sad,
Was that his heart was broken,
But he said, “It’s not so bad.”

He tried, but couldn’t fool me.
I saw it in his eyes —
Regret and bitter sorrow;
The many tears he cried.

He’d lived unto a ripe old age,
Safe within his shell,
Trading love and happiness
For a lonely life in hell.