Unrequited
I take my early tea with the daily
news. Thumb past writings of bad things done
to good people and this morning
I saw you.
Gazing so familiar from the business page
with that smile meant just for me.
hey gorgeous
I swear you said it. Just
at the moment I dropped my bran muffin on
the saucer I got when I married that other man.
hey gorgeous
What could I do but smile in return at the dimples etched in newsprint? Run my fingers across the
skin so smooth. Smudge it dusty gray. Ignore the woman on your arm, beaming, unseeing, the
shaken tea cup in my palm chattering your name.
hey gorgeous yourself
That you could shadow my sunrise this fine day. Amazing!
The power of that past long folded, carefully stored among collegiate shenanigans, post-graduate
regrets, workaday revelations, things that just didn't work out.
Don't you hey gorgeous me
from between the pages of a journal still secreted beneath our mattress
where it was before you left to marry her. The one clinging tightly,
wondering where I am these days
in the aftermath of us.
Hey gorgeous
tell her please that this morning I am smiling
at the memory of things better left unsaid. Sitting
in that happy birthday raiment you loved to touch
so much. Reveling in the feel of your face on my
fingertips. At breakfast, no less. Watching your life
go on without me.
Tell her I did not spill my tea despite my surprise
to find my heart flutters for you
still.
(c) 2005 Stefanie Worth
You can find this poem in "Conversational Silences," available now.
news. Thumb past writings of bad things done
to good people and this morning
I saw you.
Gazing so familiar from the business page
with that smile meant just for me.
hey gorgeous
I swear you said it. Just
at the moment I dropped my bran muffin on
the saucer I got when I married that other man.
hey gorgeous
What could I do but smile in return at the dimples etched in newsprint? Run my fingers across the
skin so smooth. Smudge it dusty gray. Ignore the woman on your arm, beaming, unseeing, the
shaken tea cup in my palm chattering your name.
hey gorgeous yourself
That you could shadow my sunrise this fine day. Amazing!
The power of that past long folded, carefully stored among collegiate shenanigans, post-graduate
regrets, workaday revelations, things that just didn't work out.
Don't you hey gorgeous me
from between the pages of a journal still secreted beneath our mattress
where it was before you left to marry her. The one clinging tightly,
wondering where I am these days
in the aftermath of us.
Hey gorgeous
tell her please that this morning I am smiling
at the memory of things better left unsaid. Sitting
in that happy birthday raiment you loved to touch
so much. Reveling in the feel of your face on my
fingertips. At breakfast, no less. Watching your life
go on without me.
Tell her I did not spill my tea despite my surprise
to find my heart flutters for you
still.
(c) 2005 Stefanie Worth
You can find this poem in "Conversational Silences," available now.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| (c) 2007 Stefanie Worth |