First Loves
Fabrice Poussin
For a half a bag of caramels
and a first date to true love
will you be my every day Valentine?
When you are eight years-old
no one tells you to sign your name
if you are the shy boy on the block.
First love.
Second love.
At eleven, what is one to do
edging to be a teenager
wearing your name on his chest?
Guys can be handsome too
not you! she said, hurrying out.
So what if you cheat on your tests
no longer a little girl
two years behind already
teachers say nothing for your looks
you sure know how to move
a name again etching to a heart.
Third love.
Fourth love.
So grown up, so powerful,
too old for a half bag of caramels
perfect for a story of puerile years
dignified as a lady of dreams
a woman to scar a soul forever.