You
Will Never Know
By Oscar S. Cisneros
Potentiality. Possibility. The things that could possibly
be. Those are the things that will never be explored between
you and me. You will never know my gentility, my honor,
my strength. You will never know what lies behind this
at times indomitable face, that its pockmarked exterior
is a coarse cover for the sweetest kind of tenderness.
Flashing through my mind, I see visions of you and me:
two lovers hand in hand, my palm cupping your face, your
head on my lap. But that dream will never be for you will
never know what could exist between you and me. You will
never hear the verses that I would write to mark the start
of our eternal union. You will never know the depth of
my passion, the profound ways in which I could adore and
respect you, the untiring will of my desire. What fate
will be yours, I cannot say. We will drift apart, go our
own ways but I do know this: You will never know the man
I am or the man I will become as age turns gray the black
of my hair. I wish you no ill-will, hope that fortune
smiles your way. It is enough to know that you will never
know the things that could have possibly been between
you and me.
