[Experience]

I clutch at my twee truisms
Like a child does its marbles
Poor currency perhaps
But it's all I've got

Some won fair and square
Others by fortune alone
Some paid for with money earnt...
Perhaps some stolen - so what of it?

All are precious to me

[Slave]

Novelty it seems has been
Replaced by apathy

I am sickened by my fickleness,
but must yield to its insistent nag

For what sort of rebellion could I mount?

Her faithful gaze is confirmation:
She deserves more than I am pretending to...

It is as I feared.  Move on.

[Scarification]

She has not the look of a predator,
but I know better

Wary of the recognition
Yet
The vulnerability I knew would surface
Begins to assert itself

The irony is not lost on me

Some lessons are no fun to learn
I submit and try to prepare
For the inevitable

[Business]

The smile was a small thing;

Accidental.

Almost unnoticed, it had
Escaped despite her best
Intentions

Everything between them
Changed in that instant

The transaction is completed.

She skips out, flushed,
Annoyed at her lapse.

He remains unaware that he has
Straightened in his chair,
Gruffness melted from his voice.

[Beggar]

The money tossed serves as
Soft concession to my guilt

Syrup that though medicinal is probably more for
My benefit than his

I savour the bitter aftertaste
As if that could atone
Sanctimonious worry is no suffering at all...

Though no act of contrition,
It leaves me exhausted enough to
Ignore

Until next time.