Renewal
My ballad for Janice
Between Brandywine and Chesapeake
nestled on Forty - first street
we danced cheek to cheek
on a Saturday night
near midnight
it felt so complete
it's taken some years regarding this
tale
even just about it
to speak
and it all felt so right
how did it turn out so wrong
i guess it's
because i wasn't able to express my
feelings for you,
or even call you on the phone
I had the heart but not the vocabulary
if I had a dime for every time
I heard that ring tone
then hung up without dialing
it would be a royal sum
indeed
but i'd trade it all for
another chance
yes,
i'd lie at your feet
we walked through lines of airplanes
and space capsules
earlier in the afternoon
on the Washington Mall
flirting with each other
touching innocently here and there
our fingers
memory sensors of the way it
would feel
to be closer
and fall in each others arms
when the
walls would come down
and all about the room
our clothes would be thrown
and they did
we made love that night
in my parents bed
my dad was dead and my
mom out of town for the weekend
maybe that was a part
of my shame
in the morning we ate
breakfast and fed each
other oranges and cups
of tea just like Leonard Cohen
sang it would be
between kisses
that lit a flame
that to this day
still remains
and burns
for Janice
the apache kid