If Annie’s gone
to Baltimore
she didn’t say goodbye
because we weren’t there.
We were somewhere else
sorting out another place
and living in a time
that wasn’t her’s yet
despite her
global proximity
and proclivity
to travel.
I was her last male bedfellow
to my knowledge…
there were murmurs of love talk
for a few short years
but this Dublin streetwise waif
would have been hard to convince
that what she needed
was a handsome prince.
She thought I was
the most female
of men
the way I moved
the way I spoke,
I had a female feel to me
and when she felt me
I was her princess
I guess.
I always suspected
I was a Lesbian.
One day, looking down at me
after another marathon
of moaning sensuality
she said “You’re a very serious young man”.
With every lover since
I’ve known she was right,
she gave me this forever
to keep as a jewel
of self-knowledge
meant to come in handy
whenever I feel randy.
Annie went
to Baltimore
to take up sailing.
We heard she took it hard
when Baltimore
didn’t understand its gain,
but Annie’s tough,
she sailed on
like an Irish immigrant,
raised on blight and pain
I think she did it single handed
rather than in pairs,
and from the little that I know
Annie could still be sailing there.
Had Annie stayed
she might have gone all straight.
Had we persisted
in that particular yacht race……
I loved her fingers
reefing in my face
and the exhilaration was in danger
of getting even better……
most likely I’d have gone all bent
but then in any case
Annie went
to Baltimore
and never sent
any letters.