When Pain Is Anticipated What Can Pain Be? Poem by RIC BASTASA

after we talked
i already know what you wanted
i toyed with that idea

and then when we finally meet
each other at the agreed
time and place

i already know what to say
but i only listened
to what i already expected you to say
to me

i toyed with that idea
as always
as i have always done with the past
with all of them
and they all like me
just like the way you like me now

at the end
you say, this kind of thing won't last
these toys
won't last longer than we think
we both toyed with these ideas
and we
since we know already this kind of pain

we did not pain that much
(perhaps a little like that
grain of salt
like the way we toyed with
one another)

with tongue-in-our-cheeks
we part and we do not use any word
any longer

when pain is anticipated
what can pain be?

obviously, the one that you already know
does nothing to you.