Poem That Was Late Poem by R.A. Burleigh

(For Mary Schegel)

I was ready for your birthday
I conceived a poem in my eye
Round, terse
A small important thing
With a classical statement of honor and love

I wrote it this way
What more can we know
But acting on our beliefs

It stopped there
Wouldn't go, although I prodded it
And coaxed, and one time
Prayed

But it sat in my eye a month or more
I saw you at your desk holding a rough laugh
I saw you hurry along just ahead of me
And realized, just now
I was not ready for your birthday

RB