Perhaps if I had been a better student
Paid more attention in school
Like you

Maybe then I would have learned
That a hammer may love a pane of glass
Only once

That fantasies are fragile and precious
And perish quickly beneath
The cinder blocks of reality

That sometimes, only illusions
Can cauterize the deeper wounds

But I was the boy in class, always arguing with teacher
Insisting aliens were real
And that Shakespeare was onto something

All that being said, I am sorry
But this did not have to be a poem

It could have been warmth and flesh
And hands and lips and passion
Or it could have been an awkward cup of coffee
And a hug goodbye
Or it could have been...

But it was none of these
It was not anything

So for what it’s worth
I would rather be apologizing for having disappointed you
Then for asking if I could