Twice Shy

Some children always avoid eye to eye,
as if they know what we see we possess.
In their drive to be dispossessed, God bless,
a look away is more than being shy.
We’ve all been there, lean in to give a kiss,
or be kissed, then the look away, the coy
deflect, denied desire, rejected joy.
What we never had, we can never miss.
Deferral makes the pale, weak heart grow fonder.
True virtue is giving into one’s will,
to give face to the void, its quiet, still
absence. It takes a great will to just wander.
Some kids never grow into direct looks.
They forget the eyes’ labial eyelids,
the pupils like gaping beaked mouths of squids,
and barbed lashes that pull you with their hooks.