TEMPORARY BLINDNESS

I tapped some dottle into the ashtray,

scratched the stubble on my neck.

and looked again at the couple

over there. She laughed at something

he said and her head shook in waves

of red. She was a looker, I was jealous.

Her skirt dripped creamy legs

down the corner of the stool,

her smile as clear as glacial ice.

Their eyes flickered back and forth,

and they kept reaching out to touch

as they leaned into

something.

Maybe they were just horny

and warming up for later on, but

it might have been love

walking the path that leads

to the kind of smiles

you see in wedding pictures.

Where it ends,

because the laundry piles up

till we drown and never look

that way again.

I think of those angels with swords

of flame at the garden gates…

Adam wants his way, so

Lilith turns into Eve.

Every time.

The oldest profession

is better than this.

I let the last sip of my double shot

pave the back of my tongue

and looked around for the barmaid.

Reviews

[Dara]

Growing old just wasn’t in my playbook until I turned 70. Sigh! But I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. True, it is hard not to envy young couples in the throes of a budding romance but as we all know to well, a relationship takes a lot of work to keep going. I really love this write!

[Vol]

Dara,
When I turned sixty, I said "Sixty is the new fifty,"
Now seventy-four is the new, tired, achy sixty-four. Brings the question, "Who am I?" Am I my body-74? Am I my mind-18? Am I my soul-eternal? Now what's really at the core is, of the three, when the least of these suffers organ failure, the others are all that's left, and I don't even really know them... in fact, we've hardly even met. Sigh.
Vol

[Dara]

You summed it up perfectly! All we can do is take one day at a time. I hope yours was a good one. :-)

[Vol]

"Tis indeed a good one, thank you, Dara! Yours too, I hope.
Vol

[Chris Shaw]

I have no envy of young couples at that stage of romance. Let them enjoy it because it doesn’t last that long. When the bills need to be paid and the kids are sick and all the other stuff that is sent along to cause the frowns in life are waiting on the horizon. I have my memories. They warm me. I think I’d just sit back, relax and enjoy my favourite tipple. All part of the passage of life Vol. I’m happy where I am.

Chris

[Vol]

Chris,
Thank you! Isn't it strange how delusional we are abour love? We portray it as a Disney World/cotton candy thing, but it is always more like "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," A succubus after our souls... But with just enough benefits to keep us going...
Vol

[Chris Shaw]

A succubus? Had to look that one up Vol. That’s quite a statement :)

[Vol]

Chris... According to legend, Succubi are the offspring of Lilith, Adam's first wife.

[Chris Shaw]

Oh thank you Vol, now that I didn’t know either.

[willweb]

Here's hoping the barmaid was good looking so the night wouldn't be a total waste. : )

[Vol]

Willweb,
My wife said of her, "If you were ever going to have an affair, you could do a lot worse than Nicole." which is why, of course, I never saw the need to have an affair...
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

why are relationships always so beautiful and edgy with chemistry at the very beginning...
and then later we see to forget that existed. In my mind, I had a few too many reading this.
j.

[Vol]

Jacob!
When confronted with this question, I always think of Keats, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," love is a succubus.

[Lorry]

Isn't it always the case, that there you are enjoying your drink and then you notice the rest of the crowd are made up of young and happy couples, which would make you drink all the faster, just to get the night over with.
Don't get me wrong, I don't envy them their youth, I just wish mine lasted a bit longer 😊

[Vol]

I have been young... I have done what they still do, wish I could still do... anonymous, oblivious... Except I was that age in the sixties and suspect there is something of a qualitative difference... in my favor... though long ago. here I am 74 years old wishing for a smooth, nubile lover and the ability to do something about it.