Catnip and Sea Foam

*disclaimer: this poem not based on totally real events or current feelings. But I like the allusion.


Catnip and Sea Foam

Remember way back when?
When I kinda sorta thought I liked you
And you liked me back but just as friends
And I could see your pain and angst and frustration
But not touch
Touching was not allowed.

You were catnip to my romantic heart.
Brokenly perfect, no confidence a'tall.
We danced and you gave me a rose.
I thought I could fix-- something in you.
Smooth away the creases,
And neaten up those corners.
Belle found her Beast--
Outer beauty hiding a treacherous heart,
To be revealed by that one right girl.
I loved you.
I still do, sometimes.

You loved my voice; I saved you from drowning.
You liked that I liked you, a bit much maybe.
We wrote- and texted-- talked.
I hid my disagreements and jettisoned my ideas to conform.
I pretended to agree, and we were great friends, I thought.
But the other girl came.
The princess, pretty and perfect,
She caught your eye and your mind left me.
She could sing, too.
And you wondered if she was the one who actually could pull you from the deep.
If she was the one who would make you happy?
I lost my voice to walk with you.
But you loved she who sang.
And  I was just seafoam after all.