After the embarrassment of love,
The lover is hated more
Than possible before.
After the excitement, they’re dumping their copies of Fifty Shades of Gray.
The most beautiful thing in the world will simply be thrown away.
After the embarrassment of love,
Love is seen for what it is,
The attempt to see the world as beautiful,
And to see beauty in yourself with another,
And now, you think, “Why did I bother?
There’s plenty of beauty which doesn’t embarrass.
People are ugly. So many ways. Inside and out.
What was I thinking? Why all that fuss?”
Vain want. Vain thought. Vain pose. Vain pout.
Part of the excitement, of course, was the doubt.
Now you sit and watch ugly people trudging by.
You can see love’s a trick of nature, since the ugly
Must breed—they need the illusion
Of love. You are now ashamed of the ocean,
And the ocean mist, and your little island.