By Gala
Date: 3 May 2000
Wilting And Wishing
Summer music, summer songs---
Dock of The Bay, Up On The Roof---
Under the Boardwalk...
Always longing for a companion
to share a frozen custard,
watch the fireworks with,
or simply sit on the sand with
long after the hateful sun
had left
with the last shoebee.
But I was not a summer goddess,
bronzed, trim and gorgeous
with well pedicured toes
who fit so easily into the shore scene.
They gleamed, and shone
while I sweated and wilted
and would have sold my soul
for one smile or glance
from the guys they called rejects
because they drove the wrong car.
Of course, the guys wanted the goddesses---
not the girls with open hearts
and too wide eyes
to be worth much as a trophy.
I was invisible---
and stayed that way
until I learned to laugh
from my soul.
The goddesses---
they didn't laugh like that.
Maybe they were afraid
it would make them tan crooked
or give them wrinkles---
they smiled, just a little
to show off the expensive orthodontia.
But Laughing?
How common.
I never dreamed of a shore guy---
they were beyond imagining
and the property of the gorgeous ones.
I like to think that they were
just a bit too tough for my taste.
I like to think they deserved each other
and their tequila soaked battles.
I see them today---my age---
withered by the sun,
dried out and angry
because their best days and nights
are history...never to be tasted again.
And me?
I still dance funny.
I still have my laugh--
and the love that I found
at the end of a Summer,
forty miles inland.
Wilted comes back with a little water.
Wishes can come true.
I remember that
when he buys me a frozen custard
and we watch the ocean
and wait for the fireworks to start.
Back to the Heart-on-Sleeve Corner