Regret to All Those Males

[greendryad]

Those teenage years were tough,
but what's even harder
is knowing you could have been
a friend.
I was horrible.
All those stupid moves.
I thought I was being so coy and hard-to-get,
but it just meant that we never
conversed.

When we did,
one-liners and tiny, trite exchanges,
I stammered, stuttered
and was accidentally rude.
When the insults came out,
surprise followed.

I thought you deserved the insults
because you were male
underprivileged yet unobtainable
and you didn't understand.

I wish you had seen the surprise.

Then I hated all boys
because they wouldn't extend that hand
to all the lonely, awkward,
un-confident yet eager girls.
I placed all the blame on you,
because you never gave a chance.

Notice I'm married now?
The first step there:
Boys are my friends
before they admire me.

Just like any other human being.

~Kate Twitchell