The Women Lying There

                                                        after Aleksandra Tsibulia

An old man, knowing all about regret,
I think back on a life lived fitfully:
There was that time a beauty married me,
Those girls who wouldn’t kiss me on a bet,
Nights after sharing dreams in the sunset
And mornings stifling my humanity,
And I remember climbing a tall tree
To see the world, and everyone I met.

I heard you: “All the women lying there
In the dry grass have aged, their sunbaked skin
Appealing to no man now, some too thin,
Some with their ancient curves, some dark, some fair,
With only the warm sun’s caress, the air
Their only lover.” Here’s where I begin.