POTENTIAL DANGERS

On the steps of the zoo
you told me,

as I nustled against you,

that you

Do Not do

Public Displays of Affection.

‘You’ll learn’, I told you,

optimistically.

I should have listened.

The arctic wolves

had warmer

hearts

I

found.

 I will hold your hand

Only in Private

you later said.

I will hold yours

everywhere

I replied,

eyes misty with

love.

But you were right.

Hands were for smoking,

tricks using matches

and clutching glasses

but, never for

holding or

for tenderly

stroking,

I later

grew

to

understand.



You needed

coaxing

gently

from

out of

your

tightly buttoned

defensive position.

But, I

grew

weary
of
tediously tunnelling

under your

barricades.



And now?

Now,

you are back

in

your

dugout.

Your sniper’s eye

trained on

the horizon

seeking out

the

potential

dangers

of

intimacy.