Hmm

for 12A13*

And so we arrive, across the woods
of adolescence, at adulthood.

Muddy-shoed. Wounds freshly cut
from the incipient grassy parts.

Blood meeting the new mud,
like skin testing the water's touch:

their hairs standing like Olympic swimmers,
bent with the posture of delight and terror.

Temporarily removed for submission.

Temporarily removed for submission.

Temporarily removed for submission.

In place of memories — embers.
Inextinguishable, yet untrue
to the fidelity of what was.
The smoky curlicues, too,
have been denied. That whiff
of the past. Smouldering,
it warms the prudent hand.
Sears the lingering one.

In place of you — embers.
Charcoal flake anklets at your feet.
Wrinkling, shrivelling.
Your impassive verse-marked
way of staying. But when asked
to disappear, become so
unwilling.

Affection was her invisible hand gliding
down your back to map the gradient
of your spine. Love was letting
that unseen force replace intimacy.
She loved precisely
where demand met supply.
Razor-thin efficiency.
She reciprocated coffee for coffee,
love for love. No shortage
but no extra either.
She gave unconditionally
but only when all else had remained constant.
(We built everything on assumptions.)
But what was constant was never enough and
She'd explain it
away with your infinite wants and her finite self.

She made all the choices,
administered love like an economist
and made you her next best opportunity
Forgone.