Sidewalk Poem #14

 

Men I'm Not Married To

 No matter where my route may lie,

 No matter whither I repair,

 In brief – no matter how or why

 Or when I go, the boys are there.

 One lane and byway, street and square,

 On alley, path and avenue,

 They seem to spring up everywhere--

 The men I am not married to.

 I watch them as they pass me by;

 At each in wonderment I stare,

 And “But for heaven's grace,” I cry,

 “There goes the guy whose name I'd bear!”

 They represent no species rare,

 They walk and talk as others do;

 They're fair to see—but only fair--

 The men I am not married to.

 I'm sure that to a mother's eye

 Is each potentially a bear;

 But though at home they rank ace-high,

 No change of heart could I declare.

 Yet worry silvers not their hair;

 They deck them not with sprigs of rue.

 It's curious how they do not care--

 The men I am not married to.

  L'Envoi

 In fact, if they'd a chance to share

 Their lot with me, a lifetime through,

 They'd doubtless tender me the air--

 The men I am not married to.

-Dorothy Parker

[Walker Evans (1929) Girl in Fulton Street.]