To a 1980 Honda CB

Venturing outside the fence,

Moving too fast for good sense

Over the river and through the wood,

Revving it up good,

The power beneath me,

The wind in my hair,

It's like an affair:

Making excuses to be with you,

Knowing I ought not to kiss you,

Feeling more alive with you around

As long as my feet stay off the ground.

To an Ingenue, Who Deserves Better

Plenty of folks can make hearts skip a beat,

But you make a man's skip three.

You're a once-in-a-lifetime person to meet,

and a dime a dozen, that's me.

I never felt that we got close enough,

But I'm close enough to see,

To admire in you all of the good stuff

That doesn't exist in me.

Yet I know that naught comes of admiring

When it only goes the one way.

They say there's a first time for everything,

But I don't think they said it's today.

So all that's left is making myself see;

To accept these facts, deep in my mind:

That I was born nearly a decade too early,

and you were born ten times too kind.