For Want of a Kiss
Copyright 2004 Mary Bertke
For want of a kiss at the end of the night
These hazards and agonies soon come to light:
Does he mind hairy legs? Is my corset too tight?
Is he over his last love and is it all right?
Men are like vampires, invite them in once
Forever on after they’ll stop by for lunch
Without asking first if you’d like a quick bite
And they don’t understand when you don’t take it right
And then there’s the question of the morning after
You’ve had a fine fill and you’re brimming with laughter
Will he, overfull, spill the beans to his friends
Or just say that he never will see you again
Situations like these should come laden with clauses
Guard secrecy, honor, and dignity losses
Eliminate once and for all second guessing of
Whether your morals are called into question
A woman who sleeps with a man is a slut
If she hasn’t yet married him, still I ask what
Is the purpose of life but to love and to lose?
But to do so with safety and confidence choose
I the left or the right? The broad or the spare?
Such a bevy of choices, so rich and so rare.
Of hazards and agonies I must make light
For want of a kiss at the end of the night.