Out of a mistaken

Out of a mistaken

Belief in first love,

The urging of peer groups

The whispered pleading of a pimply virgin

Who bragged of his conquests

Demanding his right

To sample delight for the price

Of a ticket

To sit in the back row

And fumble with straps

Ignoring the slaps

As a part of the game.

Out of a tryst

With a man who was older,

The crying at night

With your head on the shoulder

Of someone, you thought

Was a best friend

Until she stole the heart of your brother

And broke it in two

Several times over

Out of a love match

With the boy on the corner

Who sat in the classroom

With a halo around him,

You thought he would be a true love

Forever and ever

But the last time you saw him

Was boarding the train

He was taking to college.

He didn’t write back when you told him

About the mistake.

You both had made

So you went to the clinic alone

And still, carry the burden

Every year

You remember the date

As a birthday without any cake

Out of the in-vitro tests,

The specialist diets

The loss of the joy

When two bodies collide

The many attempts that left you

Feeling it would never happen

The fraught nights of worry

The feelings of failure

The relief of the morning

After the labour

The way that you held on

To the memory of childhood

To build a future

As warm

As the past, you remembered

The way that we lie

To bring comfort

To the memory of home.

Out of the warmth

We feel in our hearts

For the people, we love

Out of a mistaken belief

Our friends had it easy

When we all know it’s wrong

To take others for granted

Or to deny the mistakes

We have made in our lives

From each other

As well as ourselves.