But Perhaps ( a new poem)

But Perhaps

I seem to recall a snake

that broke into my childhood home

but they tell me

that was before I was born.

I can see it cross the room slowly,

king of the moment,

till daddy hooks it on a broom handle

and deposits it outside.

If I was never there

how can I see its yellow-eyed dare?

Okay. Distance does disguise.

Someone shuffled the deck.

All the cards in my memory file

appear misplaced beside other cards

and you tell me stubbornly

“It didn’t happen that way.”

I seem to recall a snake

slithering across our bedroom floor,

yellow-eyed and venomous

.....but maybe that too was just a dream.

We understand differently,

meet broken promises

with the same skill as a plumber meets

a leaky toilet tank .....

patch it up neatly

while mentally composing the bill.

When the drip returns

he’ll be far away,

perhaps he was never here at all.