324 Poem by RIC BASTASA

somewhere silence came in
between them
creating a space of indifference
though they want to fill
the space again
with desire

love if love is true cannot just
leave them in emptiness
they have imagined
this fullness
but it isn't there
they claim it was there but
they made it leave and so they want

another round of courtship of asking
that love may come again

she insists that a condom is a must
and that they cannot just romanticize love
and have regrets later
as she enumerates a list of possibilities: AIDS, Hepatitis A, B, C, D
and STDs
(she is the doctor and he is a lawyer and both are married)

and he argues, 'when you make love do you imagine diseases?
what kind of lover are you? '

and she says, ' I am just a practical lover, i don't take risks'

' I don't mind the disease. I only mind the face and body and soul of the person i make love with. We all die anyway, and i don't want quantity
i am contented with quality! '

she demands that he use the condom still
and he dismisses the order, as it was no longer a request
and he said
as a matter of conclusion

' honey, i am ready for what you can infect me',
he kisses her and tears begin to fall from her eyes.
she kisses him back forgetting her past, her present and his future.