Among Velleities

At the end of chapter twenty one he stopped 
Drinking down a whiskey in the second person 
How we thought to bridge a gap 
Into a different century 
My mannerisms alien, my walk uncouth 
Born into a windowsill wishing I could meet you
But that would be to fly away

Into a threnody that you have weathered
Stripping through uncoded fetters
Romeo and Juliet came back to you,
He said, over a breath of amorous contumely, 
Come back I shall show you to my room 
Risible—you would come tearing back to 
Sanity that is a man who walks into your circles, 
Tastes the sip of conjugal acquaintance,
Writes off all your debts 
Not this nonchalance of graduating school 
Broken bones, incipient aphasia 
Adolescence—

Help him get the girl he is not for you 
There will be complications 
He will be through four more years of school 
He will have acted as if he had met you 
Conspicuously dying of the plague

You will not be eating a croissant like Audrey Hepburn 
When she loathed to have a diamond in her ring 
Yes. 

No, we are not dying of the plague
In this chasm, stopped up elocution 
Infinitely hard to wait  
And all of them were right to press delays
Combing through the papers 
Separated by a defunct plane
Without a semblance of a word to say

But I have played a risky hand,
Laid a stake on something so improbable
That I may deplete this rogue intention
Reading sonnets in your sleep—
If it will have gone right once
It will go right once again

Kiss me I shall undermine how quickly we can fall apart