they dance, half tense
half resigned to their frustration
slow drinks, long pauses
tracing hearts in condensation
 
but I know from here
with someone else across the table
they aren't in their thoughts, and
I hover in fringes and deal with the waiter
 
I never intended
to trace this vulture's spiral
but I've set up the pattern
 
I dream, distant
scenes oddly without detail
her arms, my car
my name on a letter as she opens her mail
 
it could be what
these other pairings are so far from
but we can't tear ourselves
from our inertia long enough to pick up the car phone
 
I never intended
to roll through life like this in neutral
but you're holding his hand
 
I always meant to
tell the truth to all of them
but it never fit the rhythm