poetry

might have beens
by Babeth Lolarga

have i told you about this old love
who had me mouthing in my mind
mayakovsky     akhmatova
joni Mitchell      eluard & cardinal?

he slipped into my life prosaicly
the way letters & bills in my mailbox are slipped
only his particular envelope
was marked
                     URGENT
                                LAST CHANCE
                                                    HAPPINESS AWAITS

& although he spelled
                     WARNING
                                DANGER
                                           CAUTION

rashly i opened him

our spirits flirted on second sight
before melding fast
his eyes were brows
violining     violating
vigoring me
while around us
his comrades talked of
revolution & people’s mandate

ultimately i learned
he was wedded to something greater
than what to me were our like minds

Revolution –
how could i compete with that?

still he comes occasionally
to lay my layered life bare
& clothe me with dreams
Of what might have beens

& each time his back
recedes from me
an awesome grief
buries me
endlessly.

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