Elsa's Quest - The Story. Chapter 22 - Where Is My Match?

I think of the Beatles. A group. None of them had to go it alone. Still quite a mess, including a manager, Brian Epstein, who, so the story goes, committed suicide.

I think of lyrics from them:

Help
I need somebody . . . Help
Not just anybody . . .
Won’t you pleeeeeeease help me

Their cry could be mine.

Of course, it could have turned out like the Beatles. Break up.

Or like Gilbert and Sullivan, who, so I have read, could not talk with each other but got back together because of the huge popularity of what they created together.

But then there is Andre Rieu and his wife Marjorie. For over 40 years, she has been a huge support, doing all the things that it did not fit for him to do, so he could shine where he excelled. It seems that has suited her, suited them.

As for me, in some ways I’ve had a lot of help. At the same time, there’s so much hunger for what - who - could help get me much further out into the world. Inside me it said - and says - your stuff has much value, it matters to get it way more to people.

It also says, on the personal level, where is my match, who is my match? The feeling is the same.

WHO IS MY MATCH

Who is my match?
Where is my match?
That is the catch

Where is my match
so the fire can catch
from a spark
to a flash
to a hearth
wood burning to ash

But who is my match?
Where is my match?
That is the catch

The wood is stacked high
row upon row
the hearth fire is set

But where
is my match?
who
is my match?
when
will a spark catch
to light up the dark?

There’s wood for three years
dry, ready to light
Where is the match?
That is the catch

My door’s open wide
I wait for a spark
for the match
so the fire will catch
the flame will take hold
the kindling will crackle
the wood will catch
fire

But where is my match?

The wood could be sold
My home could stay cold
The hearth could stay dark
without a spark

But my door’s open wide
to welcome inside
the one who’s my match
so the fire will catch

And then
more than one match
to keep the fire lit
to keep the fire stoked

for a house to live in
for a life that’s been given
a spark
to pass through its dark

Elsa
Sept. 5, 1998
https://www.elsas-word-story-image-idea-music-emporium.com/loneliness-poems.html
Put online: June 7, 2008

I wrote this on Sept 5, 1998. It is now almost 28 years later. Today is June 17, 2026. The question, the quest, remains.

END of CHAPTER 22

TO BE CONTINUED …

___________________________

ELSA’S QUEST - THE STORY & PAST POSTS:
elsaiselsa.substack.com/elsas-quest

ELSA’S QUEST - WEBSITE:
https://elsasquest.com
___________________________

_______________________

Posted June 17, 2026