The Pool Shark and The Farmer's Daughter

While he was shooting pool
She was running barefoot
Through fields of clover,
And dancing on the rooftop
Without a care in the world.

He travelled the world, went places 
And saw things she only imagined,
She went nowhere.

He did things some would regret
She never had the courage 
To cross that line

The shadows of their paths stretched
Over sand dunes and tobacco fields
But never touched

The world spread out between them
Like an ocean of impossibility,
Their ships both struggling
Against different storms,
The odds of passing in the night —
Infinity to none

She hid herself in words
Strung across page after page;
He put down his cue and climbed ladders 

She locked her dreams away
In cardboard boxes;
He sowed oats

The shadows of their paths crossed 
Beneath the wings of a goose
But never touched

Lives came and went,
Walls were built and strengthened 
She was an egg, he was a peach —
One, a shell to keep the hurt out,
The other, to keep it in
And life — was being lived.

She was hopelessly romantic
With heavy emphasis on the hopeless;
He didn’t speak the language

Neither of them was looking
When some inside english sent the 8-ball 
Careening into the corner pocket 
 
And the shadows of their paths collided
With a shot only fate could make —
And fused 
 




january 2011 
 
 



Awarded by Poetic Constellations ~ Ayana


 



Awarded by Poetic Constellations 

 



Awarded by Poetic Constellations ~ Bri ~ February 25, 2011