Dan Williams

She, and Not Me.

She with uncommon sincerity became free

when white darkened to pastel, black lightened to gray;

by then it was too late to save me.

 

She with a gesture commanded me,

as over time it was found out about me,

I was as in love as a man can be.

 

She, with a smile, had soothed many three A.M. fears,

but the careless achieve uselessness easily enough;

and such uselessness revealed reduced me to tears.

 

She, without me to encumber her, is traveling

to some other ‘might’ work which probably won’t;

some unlikely emigrant of conscience unraveling.

 

I, with the circular sleeplessness re-occurring,

another unremarkable seasoning

in the soup of confusion I keep constantly stirring.

 

She, and not me, wanted different nighttime air,

she, and not me, colored long wasted years  blue,

wanting finery she felt she’d earned the right to wear.

 

She, with the proudness of the true beauty about-to-be

has sailed on to the day after tomorrow, like in her dream;

only this time she has sailed away without me.