Saturday, March 24, 2007

Fifteen And Forty

No one warned me
that at forty
it would be
just as tough to ask a girl out
as it was at fifteen.

That’s several lifetimes
ago and I’m many times
more confident, but
“no” is till no.
So I still hesitate to ask for a date
like I was still a teen.

Life can be so mean.
I mean why didn’t anyone warn me
that at forty
all the gaul I have at work
would melt away
every Saturday?
What’s this quirk
of human nature,
or is it just my nature?

Sure I’m Mr. Tough Guy
on the job
but after hours they just rob
me of my title,
these women I’d love to date,
and I hesitate
to ask them out
like I was still fifteen.

2 comments:

velvet said...

This made me smile. It's true that it never gets any easier, does it?

Great piece. :)

-velvet

Bernie said...

I'm pretty sure I wrote this while alone on a Saturday night some time after my 40th birthday. I bet if I were out there "dating" again in my 50s, things would be the same.