Forgive me if I seem a bit thick

A bit of an apology for the poet's sometimes cluelessness when dealing with people. He recognizes he is often slow to pick up on flirtations (some classic humorous stories in his memoir about this) as well as being naive about the motives of others outside of the romantic arena. He has been often the victim of his own best intentions, but because of his brilliance, people always think that when he blunders, it is part of an act or an agenda. Trust me, he is just that trusting

Forgive me if I seem a bit thick

forgive me if I seem a bit thick,
but lessons learned are not my strong suit.
forgive me if I retain faith
in who I am. what I am. and values
that, while I have not always been
the argent sergeant in upholding,
at least an honest admirer of those
with greater steadfastness than I.

there are some lessons best left unlearned.
how to lie without conscience,
how to set priorities where all
the line items are number one
and end with "for me",
how to quit when the going gets tough
and manufacture a good cover story
that saves face, rather than accepts
the truth of one's own limitations.

forgive me if I seem a bit thick,
but I have the misfortune to have found
a path that I am suited to, rather than
suiting the path to me, the humility
of accepting the fact that you can't
(to paraphrase a dark troubadour)
always get what you want, but God
leaves trails of breadcrumbs to the truth.


William F. DeVault. all rights recerved.