The Late Romantic
Take your lover out to dinner, my friend,
ignore your back’s protestation
at the meagre support strange chairs supply.
Don’t squint at the fashionable chefs
who fashion food into defiant shapes.
Make peace that you never learned how to dance
for the weddings over generations;
how evenings are a dicey transition —
and have been for years, in all honesty.
Remember: occasional treats will matter
to the one who is left behind.
It is a lonely, unscrupulous world
that proffers roses on Valentine’s Day
at an audacious ten dollars a stem.
Karen Andrews
Image: shutterbugamar
