When Laura tempted me with upturned eye
This evening, greeting her, it was denied
By me: like priest or Levite I passed by,
And felt a cool explosion; then I died.
Or something died, because I carried on:
It was as if it had occurred, and now
Was over, I was free, the blues foregone
One with the love, and nothing changed, somehow.
I think back to the time when I was young,
When such an incident repeated yet
Would in denial last the summer long,
That to this day whose ache I can't forget;
And looking back on which I have to say
I'm pleased with who I've hardened to today.
