THE FISH SHE DENIED ME

I stood guard on the spot I did so all day, all night You weren’t there, but I was there Out of fidelity Out of love I stood guard on the spot. I wasn’t pushed If anything, I jumped With no prompting, no probing I offered myself My life My all To you, all of me; all of it Leaving nothing behind Holding back nothing I didn’t want to rime with Ananias. I stood guard alone, all alone Everyone else left Vanished, vamoosed All, except me They who paid you lip service They who smiled before you And jeered behind you. I used my entire arsenal And borrowed what remained of my Dad’s Relics from his good old days as Mr. Marriott’s night watchman Spear, gun and baton From the sanctum sanctorum I did all of that For you Just for you. Yet when you emerged with the fish And before my starving eyes You called up the others, each by name And gave them useful parts of your fish Head, tail and even middle That coveted and succulent bottom And they munched it all before my very eyes Oh, how my mouth watered And my eyes bled And my feeble legs wobbled!