Pine Needles

 I’ll bet she makes a beautiful bride,

And brings out all the best in you:

The fooler fooling another fool.

My ruler is crueler, so let's unspool

More than a quarter century defied.

Let's take one last meandering ride

Looking for the crash site:

You're the liar

I'm the writer

Let the professor take you to school.

I hope she ends up your fool

A fool who’ll make a fool of you.

We never said a word about

Your pathology of my doubt:

Your misdiagnosis

Became my prognosis

And I died in the dual.

I’ll always be your ghoul,

Your biggest mistake,

Your deepest regret,

The one you see across

The empty room.

I don’t know

If I want

For you

To move on

or

Pine:

Like the trees

In your backyard

That whispered

Thick secrets

Across the Gulf breeze.

This is fall for a Floridian,

A season my heart pumps

Adrenaline:

Manic fireflies, cool cigarettes,

Just enough chill

To get a guy

To wrap me

In a flannel.

And he will.

He will:

Blow out the gaslight,

Assist in my dual fight,

And pay for my plane flight.

You will:

Never resurface,

Just drift without purpose

And, oh, what a circus

In Sarasota.

There's no cosmic wheedles

Or further cons or tweedles

That will dumb the way

The pine needles.