By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 25 October 1999

Decline

       things are cozy
           but far
          from rosy
     he treats me like
     he thinks 
     he knows me
       but I've got secrets
      deep & wide
  and my legs are spread
       but he can't
      come inside
  his welcome mat
  has become a sphinx
      because I spy fear
    and unsightly chinks
      in his tarnished
         rusty armor
   I'm beginning to hate
     my phlegmatic charmer.