affection

With arms akimbo and chin aloft, I planned

to stand at my guns and tell her that she'd gone too far -

scarred as I was by inflicted loss of pride;

I'd decided to terminate the relationship.

I slipped in my firm intent - like a swimmer swept

ineptly in another direction to the thrust of his stroke -

the joke of others, at the mercy of a sliding tide -

the rider ridden till he's finally lost his way.

She was playing a weak hand strongly - pleading,

wheedling, threatening and cajoling - with a tragic face

to place me in the wrong. There were also tender hints

of instant Paradise - tantalizing!

In flaunting sex (with all that this involves),

she'd blunt the edge from any man's resolve.