The Wishful Face Of Our Forgotten Florida Poem by Robert Rorabeck

I am trying to feel good-
The way a bird must feel when laughing at kites,
The way kindergarteners must feel on a really good fieldtrip:
Newly weds in bed,
A blushing bride- A teenager with braces and freckles who
Gets her first bouquet from a boy:
The same goodness for me was walking beside you through
The middle of high school- Going across her face
Where the teachers parked their cars:
Feeling taller than you, and feeling your eyes along my
Tallness and my jawbone: Feeling your approval,
Which was such a flighty thing:
You always had a boyfriend, and now you wear a ring:
I am trying to feel good- How I remember one day we had a fire
Drill and all the untried students went out together along the
Esplanade before Green View Shores
Where the alligators barely moved and the storks came
Like tatters of white before the sea shelled nimbus;
And you saw me, and left your boyfriend; you left your boyfriend
And sat by me while I was under some sickly newly planted
Tree: and it comforted me in a way I haven’t been comforted
Since; You could never know who I wanted to be for you-
And now you are married, and I haven’t seen you since:
But you comforted me once, like a fairytale that is awfully,
Awfully far away; and that is the way I am trying to feel,
While the storms continue to blow the comely tatters straight
Across the wishful face of our forgotten Florida-
You could never know….