They Never Once Poem by Robert Rorabeck

There, just south of me- acting just as strange
Marionettes against their pool,
She lays down with him- she who used to lay down
With me-
They have a new house to prove their love;
Their workaday charioteers have me well defeated,
While the mosquitos suckle my instep and I obsess
Over goddesses from high school-
Maybe I will lose a tooth and be forced to start this
All over again-
This reckless untruths I have little knack for:
I am the long shot chomping at the bit, hoping to finish
Strong and get these sad things over with.
Maybe there are girls who dream of loving me;
Maybe they think of me when they have a sugar tooth,
But if they were ever to come up against me,
Bumping elbows and broadsides it wouldn’t be too long
For them to glean that there are greater fidelities of
Sport waiting strong armed for them just a little
Deeper on the horizon- so they must go, leaving me with
Good cheer,
And I watch their backsides swaying like somnolent
Pugilists, like alley cats on Christmas morning:
I just wanted to kiss them forever, but already I can hear
The knock and saw of the new houses like bright cages
Rising ever and ever upwards for them,
With so much going on in their immediate vicinities,
They never once think to look back unrequited my way.