People Don't Change

People don’t change (1st February, 2011)

I watch you try to rearrange your spots,
leopard-skin shining in the light of
mustered illusion. You hold an unsure
hand: too many Jacks, and just one Queen.

I watch you bleed your heart free from your past,
squeeze out the last few drops of present sins
as the red runs thin. You paint a pretty
scene; you pencil in the two of us.

I remind myself that people don’t change:
Promises are made to be broken;
Secrets crafted for revelation;
Lies never completely hide the truth.

In the interim, I have flown free of fears,
mended the tears in my sinews, patched
the ragged fibres of that pumping muscle,
tried not to miss you…
I have made time stand still by myself,
made the earth move without your help,
shed the inhibition.

I feel you slither your snake arms round me,
creep your lips across my face, muttering
a mantra, a motto, crafted from words
alone: ‘I’ve missed you, please come home.’

I remind myself that people don’t change:
Broken still, the promises you made;
Revealed, the secrets you crafted;
Truth, unhidden, as the lies slip, slide…

You are treading on my newfound pride.

Listen: underneath our wills and our ways,
inside our means, beside our limited days,
I still maintain, there is just one question:
Did you learn that all important lesson?

People
Don’t
Change.

Jennifer Pickup