5/9/13

An Apology
By Curtis Moore


I should have known your heart was too kind
To bear the weight and awful grating
Of a heart that's broken, crippled, and self-hating.
That the rivers running muddy in my mind
Were far too dangerous and cold
To allow me to ever hold
A course as straight as the one you steered.

I saw the dangers looming in our path and knew
I would not have the courage to go onward.
I knew myself, knew I was a coward.
And yet I went onward, knowing I would fail you.
Each step brought us closer to the death
Of us, that waited there with fetid breath,
And which I knew I did not have the heart to face.


- - -
I’m a joint law/master’s in dispute resolution student at the University of Oregon. I live with my wife, dog, and horses in Eugene. I write poems when I can, this is my first submission to a magazine.