I remember we had conflict,

a peer group,

a close friend we didn’t know.

Confuse that with desires we were not sure of,

the outcome can be rather shallow.

We make allowances with artificial ideals,

I did that very night, when with you,

in all of your beauty and grace,

I wished only to have you, yet didn’t really have any idea

just whom I was given the opportunity to know.

Then the winter air became its bitter cold,

my value had diminished to a confused young

hormonal teenage boy.

That night I watched you look sad in the reality

of self-image I was callous to place upon your lovely self.

Oh to be the young man that could find chivalry

replay that moment with deep glance in your eyes,

if only to suggest how lovely I felt to be with you

for that brief time.

Later, as life continued to journey forward,

and ours was now a past reflection,

I would see you move beyond that world,

always with a desire to honor

your presence, beauty and elegance

you’d offered my own erred judgment.