Sirens

 
 

We look good together, or so we are told

And our photos reflect this opinion, it seems

I enjoy being with you and your company

But your very presence – it frightens me so

 

I enjoy being touched – you can do that all day 

Your hand on my waist or your face in my hair

It’s not a problem when you put it there

But the thought of a kiss will scare me away

 

I flash back to the days when it first started

After unwittingly fighting a war

A kiss is much like the siren horn

Warning that enemy missiles are charted

 

The sirens themselves won’t hurt me, I know

But they herald a prospect that holds much more danger
            A prospect to which we both are not strangers

A place that we swore we’d not again go

 

Let’s step aside and take a deep breath

            I hope my concerns you’re willing to hear

            And I will learn, once again, not to fear

The sirens: they wail for my life, not my death.
 

Beth Siler
5/18/2000

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