Forbearance Poem by RIC BASTASA

as i eat my breakfast and you
start telling me about something that
makes me boil (a new debt incurred
or another lousy party for friends
or your way of clumsily handling your
private affairs
how can i be so interested in you?)

(honestly i want to scream for you to
shut up, but i keep my
cool head)

i continue eating and i pretend i like
the food that much
and then i chew my food longer this time
and tell you

'you look so beautiful today, my dear'
(you witch! my crazy mind insists, but
honestly, you have done more good than
evil, and i weigh them all in the scale and
i begin to have regrets, and i wipe my
mouth with a tissue paper and)

' i love you honey', (without really looking at
her in the eye)

the world out there is too wide
for narrow differences. (i am human and i
must be considerate)

' i love you too' (oh this crazy world! what is
it really that is bogging her innocent mind?)