Continuing Education

One learns from one's mistakes, I'm told.
I wonder. Once, you left me knotted,
Aching, like a thousand others, to take
You to bed, and, thus, to...what? To
Satisfy myself that I could have the sort
Of woman others wished that they
Could have? I couldn't. That was
Clear enough, and, then, as time
Ticked past, another you appeared,
Still lovely, richer. Someone I was
Sure I loved, and, on a fragrant
Summer evening, strangely, you
Led me around a corner, out of
Sight of all of those we knew,
As if you planned to kiss me,
But your son arrived, and, fumbling,
Guilty, we returned with empty
Hands, with untouched lips,
And went our baffled separate
Ways, and, even now, within
Your eyes (and within mine,
I do not doubt), I see the wish
That we had kissed. I hold you
When I come to visit, briefly,
Custom, nothing more, and
Cast my eyes toward the corner,
Realizing that that moment
When we should have pressed
Our lips together, but we didn't
Represents the sort of error
From which someone ought
To learn.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 24 times
Written on 2013-10-24 at 02:42

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