“…yearning that has ever filled her…”

 

 

Whither

 

He the tempter, she the temptress.

 

Roles they never imagined in their separate worlds

   before they chanced to come together,

roles they accept without skill or will to play,

roles animated by the drab constraint of her clan,

and the drear, deadened danger of his career

   in thrall to loveless intrigue.

 

Quickly they see each other as woman and man,

quickly the heat is on them,

quickly they twirl in dance without dalliance,

quickly they know their plight,

awkward in their pauses,

denying the impulse to embrace.

 

At day’s end he faces her, silent,

his desire wantonly on offer,

his smile closed by fear that he will charm her

   into a love that must become a misery in his world.

She faces him and does not speak

   but offers herself with lust she cannot name

      and yearning that has ever filled her.

Her smile awaits his beckoning,

for long moments…

He lowers his eyes in despair, she turns away

   and accepts her failure with no whisper,

no waiting,

no wishing for another chance,

no words to claim him for a love

  that would wither in her world.

 

They give without taking.

They reach to each other

   across an unimagined gulf

      that sears their willing hearts,

they lean to the threshold of desire

   but they do not take the last step.

 

They part, to languish in the limits of their lives.

They learn that heart can be another way

   to spell hurt.

 

February 14, 2016

Inspired by the film Witness (1985)

My poem “Whither” was published January 23, 2018, in my second collection of 47 poems, Seeing far: Selected poems. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2018 All rights reserved.

 

We Were Soldiers Once…and Young

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Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (ret.)

         and Joseph L. Galloway

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