You're A Poet, But Don't Show It!

I never considered attempting to write anything meaningful, much less poetry, until a buddy asked for help when he suffered a broken heart. We were 18. He had it bad for a girl we worked with. She had a boyfriend (who was a jerk). My friend was giving up, but he wanted to send her flowers and a poem for her birthday. He couldn't come up with anything and asked me for help. I thought about what he was feeling and wrote this:

The flowers are to let you know
Just exactly how I feel.
About a love I can never show
And a heart I can never steal.

It was bad, but it did get him a pity date.  Really, he was too good for her.

The main reason I remember it is because at the time I thought, "Hmmm, I might be able to use this myself someday."  But the opportunity never arose.  Since then I've mostly avoided writing poetry.  Until...

Rooth challenged readers
"Compose a haiku or two"
Embarrassed myself

Or did she just share some and I took it as a challenge?  No, no, I'm pretty sure she invited others to join in.  I think I wrote two: one defending men and the other slamming them--I like to explore both sides of an issue.


PS - Of course my friend wasn't really giving up.  That's just something guys say when they decide to make a grand gesture after months of failure.  DO NOT BE FOOLED!  :D

PS ll - The title was inspired by a childhood taunt, "You're a poet and don't know it, but your feet sure show it.  They're Loooongfellows!"