HAD I THE COURAGE OF ANOTHER TIME

HAD I THE COURAGE OF ANOTHER TIME

Or lacked the foolishness of my own

I would not waste the next few years

In waiting but take you as a woman

Now.  In self-protection and to keep

You feminine and gentle, before you

Try to curl your straight black hair –

Or a surgeon straightens that eye

That is no disfigurement.  But even

If I survive the year and wait

For chance and change - - -