Serendipity
Author's Note: After much sifting through the old collection of poems I've already written, I decided to finally use this one. Believe it or not, I did "According to the Giver" when I was a junior in high school (about a completely conjectural situation, of course). I just thought it would be appropriate to use here as well for the thesis I had in mind: What would Helga think about "giving herself" to Arnold? The reason why I consider this to be one of my personal favorites is because I believe it brings up a few good points in regards to the topic of sex. Unfortunately, that same subject matter we're dealing with has also forced me to jack up the rating on Serendipity for cautionary reasons. Anyway, enjoy and please review!
According to the Giver
And now you're thinking little thoughts about it
Taking every inch of him in
What does it mean when something changes how it's always been?
Liz Phair, "Little Digger"
Tonight you desire to fully unwrap a gift,
The most beautiful and precious of all gifts.
Yet such a feat is not easily accomplished,
For it entails great consequences.
Do you remember how we came to arrive at this moment?
It started many years ago,
When we were young and without a care in the world.
You first saw the gift's outer trappings then;
Intrigued, you wanted to find out what lay beneath.
Layer after layer was peeled away,
And you were naturally at the helm of this slow, painful process.
Who else but you could have been the mastermind?
Now there is little left to do,
Except for one very important act,
One that will either be the consummation or undoing of us.
Knowing this, do you wish to proceed,
To take away that last bit of protection and innocence we have?
Yes, I do want you as you want me;
Every night I dream of us together,
Of how it would flow perfectly,
From each kiss to each touch to each caress that would pass between us.
Yet this is merely an idealistic rendering;
Reality is always lurking a short distance away.
If you were to receive the gift,
Those innermost physical and spiritual sides of my being never known by anyone else before,
I would not only want you but need you as well.
Can you really claim you are ready for such possession?
In the end, one truth prevails above the ambivalence:
The time for giving is according to the giver,
And now is regrettably not my time…