he watched things break on the edge of soft sweaters
and hair that became flowers that became rain
falling on the rooftops of distant houses where
princes dreamed of being commoners, and commoners
dreamed of killing princes

a face that made him want to go to war
in the vain hope she would wait for him
and the more realistic hope that he would not
return; for in the time of learning, the real
education is in loss and disappointment and
even ruin;

for there are two currents in life, flowing
in opposite directions: the wanting

and the being wanted