WAITING GAME (a pantoum)

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

I have led a life of great anticipation...

trading the hours of my days for the digits in a ledger--

biding my time; buying into the myth of security in numbers

and always believing that love was just around the corner.

Trading the hours of my days for that which gave me pleasure,

I languished in lobbies and watched the women of the world walk by,

assured the law of averages was in my corner--

a lonely sojourner playing the waiting game.

Watching the worldly women walk by,

I lobbied for a glance or a smile--

a lonely sojourner playing the waiting game,

still convinced that love was just around the corner.

And so, with a glance or a smile,

once in a while one would come my way--

curious, as she was, to see if love was just around the corner,

and for a while we'd fill the empty space with laughter.

Yes, now and then one would come my way,

but in the end those who wait are never waiting for each other--

mindful, as they are, of love that's just around the corner,

leaving just an empty space and the memory of laughter.

And near the end, those who wait will always hold a place for one another--

finding, as they do, a kind of purity in numbers,

trying to fill some empty space with memories and laughter...

leading lives of great anticipation.