the “changed man”

have you seen the face of the “changed man?”
you know, the one who lost the girl but
wants to get her back---
so he converts himself
into the antithesis of what he once was,
in order to get back together with someone who
never was satisfied with who he was to begin
with?

seen the way he cleans himself up now?
(it’ll last until she comes back to him)
seen the way he opens the door for strangers?
(it’ll last until she comes back to him)
seen the way that he’s modified his own personality,
(it’ll last until she comes back to him)
in order to keep from offending her, in order to
(it’ll last until she comes back to him)
be interested in every single word she says, in order to
(it’ll last until she comes back to him)
get back what it was that he lost.

but what this “changed man” lost
was more than a woman, more than a relationship---
what he lost was time,
just as she pointed out when she was leaving him
&
the time that passed is never coming back,
regardless of how much he wants to be together with her
in order to make it all feel like it had some point,
like there was a reason for everything,
like they had been meant to be,
like the storybooks tell little children in
nursery school.

ode for the “changed man” to give up the gimmick &
be himself,
ode to know that there are more fish in the sea---
ode that she might do the same & leave him for good,
(just like she said that she would)
rather than mold him into something that he cannot be.