Ingenue
sleep took you then:
you dreamed silently in my arms
with its downy weight on your eyelids,
my breath rustling your hair.
you're only a little boy!
no matter how hard I try to win you
no matter how hard I try to make you something else
no matter how many poems I write for your eyes alone
you'll still be just
a little boy
slumbering scared with exhaustion heavy on your cheeks
I wonder how I look to you
when you close your eyes at night
do you see me as sophisticated and mature,
or am I a little girl too?
-MWE
16 November 2000
