We were lovers long ago
Madly, wildly, fiercely
In love, so long ago
Now, I cannot think of her
Without those lines
From Annabel Lee
But no wind came from heaven
To chill and kill her
No, a new romance came
A mysterious man
Who changed her
Took the rose from her cheek
And left her pale
Left her strange
And wearing black
She left a note:
“Nevermore; Because
I still love you.”

Bob Wertzler is retired from almost twenty years in the mental health field in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist”, seems to fit. In 2006 he retired to move to Western North Carolina to help and become primary care giver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was work at various times as a soldier (US Army 1967-70), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, and other things. He relates to a line in a Grateful Dead song, “What a long, strange trip its been.”