Experience

You asked me to the floor at the seventh-grade dance.
I hate pity above all else.
I said no 'cause I was alone, and too young and too selfish
To think you'd want to dance for yourself.
A light touch on the arm, when there's no room for more
Means everything, I know.
But because I was young and unlearned at the time
I flinched, and I let you go.
When you offered a meal, and said that you owed me,
I told you it wasn't true.
The thing that I missed was a debt's an excuse
To get me out with you.
You seek me out to talk.
I'm at home in the soft, tranquil cool of your gaze.
You seek me out to talk.
But I look away, turn away, walk away,
Afraid you'll think I stalk.
If I had an experience for all of the times
Our signal lines got crossed
I wouldn't write this in pursuit of the past
and its moments now long-lost.
Experience drums, sets the beat of our lives
From birth until we quit.
The only part of that a man can control
Is whether he learns from it.
You asked and you told me what I want to hear
In words misunderstood.
You offered a second of soul-sustaining comfort.
I let go without a word.