The Courtship

The lace-edged handkerchief
Came first
And then you sent me a single
perfect rose
It’s the twenty-first century and
you’re courting me
Like it’s eighteen hundred
and ninety-five

Where is the red-hot passion
they talk about
Where is the look so filled
with meaning
That it can bring me right to the
edge of surrender
Dizzy and steaming with heat
and blind with lust

You’re one of the nicest men
I’ve ever met
But what I’m looking for now
is a bad boy
With an attitude and a two-
day growth of beard
Who will turn me upside down
and inside out

You say I’m asking to get
my heart destroyed
And you could very well
be right
But years from now as I sit on
my porch swing
I’ll remember this moment in
time with a smile

Everyone Has a Story

I’m riding the train ~
Listening unwillingly ~
To overheard slices of
Other people’s lives ~

Hearing a painful
Private conversation ~
Played out in the
Only time he can make
His collect phone call ~

I learn against my will ~
That ‘cause of him she’s
Out six thousand bucks ~
And her ten-year-old
Dog is dying ~

Her weeping breaks
My heart ~ and she
Will never know ~

My stop is next and
As I rise to leave ~
I touch her shoulder ~
Lean down to whisper ~
I will pray for your dog ~

She looks into my eyes
With her suffering own ~
And for that moment
She is my sister ~

The Sacrifice

Was it my breast ~
Which barely grazed your arm ~
Or was it you ~ who
Initiated the subtle contact ~
The small caress ~

I guess it doesn’t matter ~
But I do know it was that
Unexpected touch ~ which
Ignited the conflagration
That flared between us ~
Destroying the careful
Balance we had maintained ~
Until that fateful moment ~

For you are no more
Free to love than I ~
And there are hearts aplenty
To be broken ~ should we not
Turn our backs and deny
This ill judged passion ~

So far no lines have been crossed ~
No words said we cannot take back ~
But if we would both keep
The promises we have made ~
The vows unbroken and
Our honor still intact ~

This moment we have not
Acknowledged ~ must be
The only one we are allowed ~

Our eyes meet for the first
And last time ~ in this reality
We will never have or even speak of ~
But we will remember ~