Purchase Order

Purchase Order

You won't be reimbursed for them, you know-
all of those moments
you've spent waiting for
what is currently unavailable to you.
That list you assembled from a catalogue of promises-
has netted you nothing but
dwindling hopes of
back-ordered merchandise-

Which

You imagine lies waiting,
forgotten-
overlooked and pushed to the corners of
darkened shelves, buried, grown dusty
amid the mundane in life's
vast and mysterious storeroom-
or perhaps delivered to the
wrong address.

And sometimes when you
see someone
wearing happiness
like an ill-fitting garment
or holding joy in her hands
like
a vase too precious and fragile
to be trusted in such a clumsy grasp-

You know-

Those were meant to be yours.
And you imagine the recipient
answering the door
and receiving your gifts,
delight and surprise
on her face as she pulls
your love from the box to lie next to
her skin.

And you watch
as she adorns herself -
fulfilled desires strung like beads
around her throat-
a necklace of dreams that came true
it gleams -
like a smile.

*I was talking to a friend of mine who feels kind of stuck in her life. She spoke about how hard it was to look around her and see people who are happy right now. I thought that made an interesting subject for a poem.