“yet, to crush this a little, it would bow to me”

                        —Malvolio, 12^th Night, William Shakespeare

 

 

 

I wasn’t one of them,

I just want you to know—

I wasn’t like those others

She said almost as if she

Believed what she said

 

He smiled and nodded

As she said it again

But he knew as well

As she that she was one

Of them and was the same

 

But he was in love and wanted

Her to be what he wanted

Her to be not with those

Who were those who giggled

And mocked his doleful thoughts

 

Not that he cared then or now

He was in love then as now

And wonders now why she

Wanted him so badly to know

She wasn’t one of them

 

 

(December 24, 2017)