Beauchamp - She Wanted A Love Poem

The following poem is from the section, "Secrets" of She Wanted A Love Poem, a collection of poems.

Beauchamp

Reverend Robert Alexander Beauchamp

Was the pastor of a little Baptist church

In a little town in Louisiana.

A tall man with a medium build

Who had a penchant for suits.

A black suit on Sundays

As he stood at the pulpit

And a seersucker affair

During the week when one

Would see him on Main Street

Going here or there.

Rev. Beauchamp was a respectable man,

A measured man,

A good man,
A good husband,

A good father,

One of the few pastors

Who actually lived

The life he preached about,

Or so the towns people thought.

Once a month,

On a weekend,

Rev. Beauchamp would be absent

From the little town

He had made his home.

Some folks speculated that

He was visiting family,

Attending a conference or

Visiting another church.

The truth was no one really knew

Where the good reverend went,

Not his congregation,

Not his good friends,

Not his children,

Not even his wife.

Once a month,

Rev. Robert Alexander Beauchamp

Disappeared and in his place

Was Bobby Beauchamp.

Once a month,

Bobby would follow the river

Down to a little town

In the bayou.

Once a month,

He would find himself

In the company of Mona Belle,

A woman the colour

Of a moonless night,

Who was as familiar to him

As he was to himself.

She would ask about

His wife and kids

And he would ask about

Her daughter,

His daughter,

Their daughter

Who knew him as Pa Bear.

In those few days,

Bobby felt at ease,

He felt at home.

In the little house

He had built,

He was not afraid

Of being himself.

The love he felt for Mona

Was not one of duty,

But something deeper,

Something real and tangible,

And he knew that

She loved him not

For his station in life,

In society, she loved him

Because he was Bobby Beauchamp.

As the years passed,

He spent more and more time

In the little house in the bayou,

Until one day, he never

Returned to the little town

Where he was the pastor.

He simply disappeared, and

As he was such an upstanding man,

The townsfolk suspected the worse,

A terrible accident

Had claimed the reverend's life.

There was a memorial service

And the family was left to grieve.

Soon time faded the memory

Of Reverend Beauchamp,

But every now and then,

His name would be mentioned.

Some cousin from another town

Thought they had seen him down river.

Someone else thought they saw him

At a college graduation, but

The only Beauchamp graduating

Was a black woman

By the name of Alexandria.

Rev. Robert Alexander Beauchamp

Had built the life

That was expected of him.

He had married a respectable woman,

He lived in a fine house

With a white picket fence,

He had three children

Who never fidgeted

As they sat in the first pew,

But the reverend was unhappy.

He was living the life

Others believed he should be living,

But the life he wanted

Included a black woman

Who loved him unconditionally

And a precocious girl

Who saw only goodness in him.

As he got older,

He realized that

It was better to live the life

You wanted than

Try to please everyone else.

So Rev. Robert Alexander Beauchamp died

So that Bobby Beauchamp may live,

So that he may love,

So that he may be the man

Bobby Beauchamp wanted to be.

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