Sullen Pools

Sullen Pools

I tread in pools of sorrow,
All my better memories lost
And no hope for tomorrow.

My romantic notions are wasted
By time corrupting my every
Opportunity before it gets tasted.

My tears run in a salty river
Down my face to sting my lips
Which, thinking of you, quiver.

My aching heart cries aloud
In fear of what tomorrow might
Dump on me to keep me cowed.

Dusting off old photographs,
I wonder how things might differ
Had I instead favored laughs.

I am unwilling even to scrimmage
In case success should jeopardize
My walls of woe-is-me image.

To be loved again by someone real,
Not drown in my sullen pools -
I dare not imagine how that feels.

(sister poem to "Sullen Girl"  [ASR])