The boy beside me
is not you but he
is familiar in all
the important ways.
I pass through life
finding you over
and over again—
oppress you
with love. And every
surrogate?
Afflicted by my
kindness, they leave
me with my music.
I loved you before
I ever loved you.
Copyright © 2015 by Jennifer Franklin. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 9, 2015, by the Academy of American Poets.