(from Dancing on the Edge)

Mary Jane lived a “remainder” life—
she wore hand-me-down clothes.
She was a second-hand wife….

Thomas wanted a country-club home,
with two point five offspring,
and a license to roam.

Peter, he felt he had paid his dues.
He had put in his time—
he had nothing to lose….

Mary pretended—long as she could—
that her marriage was fine…
that her home-life was good.

They met one night through a quirk of fate.
She got lost in the rain—
Peter’s meeting ran late.

Under the glow of a neon moon
they whispered like school-kids….
It was over too soon.

Drifting together from need, not lust…
they clung in the silence—
slowly learning to trust.

Secretive phone-calls and fleeting trysts….
They met in the shadows.
Meanwhile, Thomas got pissed.

It ended badly—as these things can
with blood in an alley
like a crimson fan.