Wednesday, October 17, 2007

GOAT SONG REDUX...


I.

Forgive me, love, for reading you so wrong,
For missing the one signal I desired:
A sign you wanted me to wait. I thought
Instead I saw the opposite: "goodbye."

Uncertainty undoes me; I'm not strong.
I tried a goodbye kiss, but things conspired
To make me feel that wasn't what you sought.
I thought I'd take the hint, not mope or sigh.

Two loveless weeks ahead, and they'll be long,
I'll yearn and you'll work till you're overtired.
At such a price, is love too dearly bought?
Indeed not—at most any price, I'd buy...

There’s always danger in proclaiming "never,"
But I don't think I'd leave in anger—ever.


II.

Each anniversary leaves a mental mark,
July and January's sore, October's good;
Some mark catastrophe and some the high
Point since: that I can love and live.

I've spent a lifetime wandering in the dark,
And haven't often known just where I stood,
Or known what later proved to be a lie,
Or half-truth only. Facing it, I shiver.

Let me mark a year since that first spark
Flew wild between us, kindled all it could,
Sent good intentions up in flames so high
I can't see how I should receive or give.

I mark the day that Mars gave way to Venus,
And think of him whose heart was caught between us.
C





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