#PoetryFriday - Other Men.

I am very happy that I am no longer in the dating pool. I have found Mrs. Right and hope to be with her until the end. However, I still have reminders of the anguish of the dating scene. You remember, don't you? The angst, the uncertainty, the seemingly impossible task of finding someone that you love and who will love you back. The awkward meals, and other scary interactions that accompany the whole fiasco. I wrote this one after a date with a promising candidate, who was also testing the waters. 

I struggle to form a picture

of a restaurant.

You are seated at a table

across from other men.

Do you make the same small talk

you make with me?

I wonder if you spill your wine,

or whether

you toss your hair

while you nail them to the cross

of male ego.

Do they cringe at your courage?

Do you look at them with the looks

you have given me?

I fight the urge

to ask myself the hard questions.

What if they get a higher grade

on the test than I?

What if they are prettier

than I?

What if you will love them

and not me?

Do you hold their hand

with gentle fingers?

Do you touch their knee

with the knee that touched me?

In my mind's eye,

the landscape is filled with other men,

grasping and groping,

wildly pursuing

the one I love.

Their lights are brighter than mine.

Their souls are purer than mine.

Can they change water into wine?