Dennis Rhodes
Guilt
I have lived on someone else’s time.
I’ve stolen off with someone else’s days.
Yes, I’ve made love in someone else’s bed
and have worn their clothes – a splendid fit!
I have treasured someone else’s years,
used some wisely, others gone to waste.
I have answered to someone else’s name
a thousand times and smiled a phony smile
when I’ve needed to. Was it Mark’s? Was it Jim’s?
I’m a fraud. A charming one at that.
I’ve savored kisses meant for other lips—
Andrew’s? Billy’s? Who the hell can say.
I have cheated scores of men out of time.
I have taken more than my share of life.
Dennis Rhodes is the author of Spiritus Pizza & Other Poems (Vital Links, 2000) and Entering Dennis (Xlibris, 2005). His poems and essays have appeared in BLOOM, Chelsea Station, Lambda Literary Review, The Cape Cod Times, New York Newsday, Fine Gardening, Avocet, Backstreet, Ibbetson Street, bear creek haiku, Aurorean, and Alembic, among others.
This poem is not previously published.