rolls royce |  reham

  
"You're just so"
and then she pauses
and looks for the word
that I already know she is going to say
"so"
the word
that will flash like a cartoon light bulb in front of
her
eyes
and her eyes will squint as though she were looking
inside
me
and through me (as if she could)
the word that she thinks
will sum the whole of me up in 6 letters
the word that she will think
she is the first to use
to describe me
the word I have heard so many times
that's its meaning is forever diminished,
which is such a shame because it is actually a very good
word,
"so exotic!"

and she will think
that she has just struck me
with the Rolls Royce of compliments
and she will expect me to fall in love with her
for realizing and appreciating my exoticness
she doesn't know
that what she had just said
with such exclamation and romance
sounds no more interesting to me
than a muttered "hello" or "good-bye"

so I have to smile and say "thanks"
or if I feel like humoring her, "really? How so?"
and she will delve even deeper into her mundane
false intellect
oblivious to my life, my history, my pain.
and I will excuse her
her ignorant bliss
in fact at times
I will envy
her ignorant bliss
and then I will excuse myself
and as I get up to leave

I will remember the vintage words of Robert Frost
and I shall tell her with a sigh
that our roads will forever diverge
me, forever, taking the road less travelled by

and that is what makes all the difference.
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