Mature Love

Mature Love
by John Bennett

Hello,
I love you,
won’t you
tell me
your name?

Or at
least give
me your
phone number.

Maybe I’m
moving a
little fast.

Maybe you’re
alarmed &
about to
call the
police.

Don’t
do it.

I can’t
handle
any more
hard time.

Unless you
promise
to write.

Accept
collect calls.

Take part in
conjugal visits.

You’re probably
thinking this
is the
most twisted
come-on
you’ve ever
been
subjected to.

But think
how much
rejection &
love-gone-
wrong has
been heaped
upon me.

All the
betrayal.

Think what
it means
that in
spite of
all that
here I
am at
your side.

Think how
special that
makes you.

Don’t let
our age
difference come
between us.

What’s fifty
years give
or take
a few?

Think of
all those
years as
aged wine,
think how
we can
float straight
into the
heart of
love on
a drunken
boat.

There now,
that’s better.

You’re lovely
when you
soften.

Let me
caress
your cheek.

Graze your
finger tips
with mine.

Kiss the
nape of
your neck.