'Courting' Experience Poem by Romella Kitchens

'Courting' Experience

A man asks a woman, 'Sweet girl, will you ever court again? '
And, the woman replies quite firmly:
'Heavens no, that would be a sin.
When young I fell in love with a man of meager means.
He could feed us at month's beginnings but not the
ends and the in betweens.
Then, my heart went to an army man and the violence
drove him mad...
He had a coltish family and his death struck none of
them sad...
Then, a White man took my heart and the White world
said no to that.
He had to flee Tennessee from a mob with rope and
baseball bats.
After that, I loved an African, his skin as soft as sable.
He fled these racist shores as soon as he was able.
See, so now you come all flirtacious and say woman come
courting again.
Sir, my pitcher has been filled many times.
It does not need to start out at 'begin.'
What did not snap my heart in two has left me wiser than
before.
So, move your foot off my threshold before I get up
and slam my door.
The moral of this story is we always search for gold.
But, love comes twice tin plated -
more than the broken heart can hold.