Puppy-dog Tails and Everything Nice

We were all going to be rich someday, we thought.

And gorgeous women would sniff us out.

Maybe some turned out to be genuine; most were not.

Naturally, they knew we were wannabes

barely past our Mommas’ scolding

with unkempt hair only yesterday and hand-me-downs

just a few seasons ago,

now putting on airs as if those boyish,

snotty-nosed days were somehow long gone,

trying to convince some attractive young ladies

who had only yesterday been out of pigtails themselves,

thinking naively they could bait and control

a gentleman of means.

That knowing look on all our faces—

as if we were calling out “trick or treat,”

not ready for ugly, for sure,

still playing games we thought we knew how to play,

but along the way, had changed.

So, this was growing up.

We didn’t see it coming on so fast;

we didn’t notice the lessons smile and pass.

(Draft #1: Sept. 24, 2011;

Draft #3: July 20, 2016)