JE REGRETTE PLUS QUE JE PEUX DIRE

(Joan of Arc by Janeen Banko)

Regret and longing
can draw and quarter me
I wish I could take it back
I wish you had loved me more
I didn't notice, or I noticed but
I didn't know what to say
I ran through my chances like
M and Ms in a bowl while I
watched TV too much

It's amazing how little people
can get by on

I read that Jeanne wrote letters
in prearranged code: Any sentence
followed by a carefully inked cross
was a lie, her friends knew.

She recanted, then
found a second wind. I can only
imagine the Cardinals' fury.

I saw an old man who had been young
in the Battle of the Bulge, saying
in one pocket was an extra pair of socks
In the other some K-rations
He rolled his blanket with string and
hung it over his back; all else was
bullets. He didn't change clothes
for six months.
What kind of a father did he become?
When his child wept because the
mashed potatoes had lumps, was he
understanding?


© Maggie Jochild, 20 October 2007, 11:20 p.m.

UPDATE: There's now a reaction to this post by Jesse Wendel over at Group News Blog.