WHAT IF?
A flagging concentration and rampant imagination
flash his recurring theme: What if?
What if we had never met
and you had chosen not to let
me into your complex life?
What if there were no regret,
with anyone, on a date being set
for you to be my wife?
What if in crucial word and deed
we had finally agreed
and so our course had run?
What if we were less diverse
and never faced the curse
of leaving things undone?
What if the history we together made
were without the heavy price we paid
for countless mistakes along the way?
What if we had elected to conform
to the vagaries of every norm
reflected in the society of the day?
What would my life have been? – How boring!
-Kennard-
EXCHANGE
Sometimes you make me mad
and sometimes sad.
Sometimes I’m amused
and confused
or bemused.
And then there are the exchanges
that are sound
and profound.
Sometimes I smile
for a while.
Then sit and ponder
and wonder.
We should talk again sometime soon!
- Kennard -
MOVING ON
Surreptitiously I watch you for a while
and see behind that courageous, little smile
you really have become fragile.
The weight of a vexatious life,
of being mother and father and then dutiful wife,
has finally come down to rest
on your delicate frame and nurturing breast.
With a waning gladiatorial spark
you muster a pointed remark:
A lament for a world you do not know
where people reap but refuse to sow.
And you wonder if it would not be best
to move on to a permanent rest.
Now this remains the prickly pear, the stinging thistle:
In whose hand lies the final whistle?
-Kennard-
