| You Never Had a Poem- June 2001 What better cure for heartbreak? Sprawling prose across a page Or the fresh electric feeling of the day eyes mesh and hold All saved in ink, like aging wine But you? You never had a line. The first was pale, tow-headed boy Scrawled his heart (but not for me) For him I wrote my bitter best The bright of my soul on paper He was my milk-teeth, calf-love purged You came and went without a word. The next was real, shy but strong- Adorable; I drowned in his eyes He earned sweet lyrics- the striking match The perfect shock, the fluttered heart I loved him. He was my sun-gilt road But I could never write your ode. And you. And you. My best and worst- you shattered me Without qualm. I soared on love One-sided but deep... I broke. Of all the things you could have been... You sneered. And so silenced my pen. |