i made you do a double-take
i think
and it was compliment enough
cinderella
gone from ashes to beauty
still the same
i could see enough to know
there was nothing
as always in a month of somedays
i breathed your cologne and
the acrid smell of emergency flares
fired by lost dreams
i did a double-take
just to be sure
midnight struck an hour
too soon
happily never after
it always seems to end
that way