The Not In The Would

And this is the face
that launched a thousand poems
through my dozens of homes
the one I held close
stayed near
held dear
no peer,
you towered above my love and devotion
(over mountains and oceans
blah blah - that's a bore
you've heard before
that doesn't impress you anymore)
but you pointed out flaws
I never saw before.

Decorated them with bells so they might play
After you've gone away
and left me to stay
and slowly decay.

And never viscious
or malicious
it's almost delicious
how you can see
every problem in me
like a pea
in a stack of mattresses

and I'm no price
so I wince
since

every word you tell me is truth

and your voice filled with nothing but concern

like a third-degree burn
that I've somehow earned
and I never learn
and I always return
to this scene of distress
this test
that I never pass

and how fast
they add up,
this series of wrecks
When will I see you next
with your X-ray Specs?
I should have bought stock in Kleenex
for all the tears
that these fears
have brought about
every time we go out

I want to be as perfect for you
as you are for me

but I never am,
and I'm sorry, m'am
but I'll do my best
to have less
for you to point out and for me to obsess
over
and over, and over, and over, and over

and it's all that I know, you're
the only one who can see
directly through me
and that might be
the one flaw I could find in you
if I had to
it would be
easy for me
to see.

The only thing that's wrong is that you're always right.

The only thing that's wrong is that you're always right.