Romantically Incorrect

Your Beliefs

Instilled within you by the man and woman who
Brought you up, perhaps?
But if you were raised with no
Religion,
Would you still inscribe those Bible verses
On Facebook every
Sunday,
Gather in religious congregations,
Listen to Goddamned-long sermon and song?

When we met,
Would you have allowed yourself
The carnal foretasting of Heaven-and-Hell?

Do you remember ...
    The days our destinies
Aligned
(The raging hormones of summer bled into autumn
Affecting even the most ambitious, unromantic
Me)
Drawn to your down-to-earthy, natural appearance,
I emerged from my bastion of introversion,
Said “Hello” to you?

Does the image of our verbal dance
Flash through your
Mind, a
Waltz of words
Tango of talking ...

Did you remember those steps?

Ever the perceptive,
You knew I hadn’t donned my pseudo-extroverted persona
Solely for conversation’s sake
You could see me in Mesmeria,
Staring at your
Big
Brown
    Eyes
The unpermmed,
Unweaved,
Voluminous curls on your head,
And the sophisticated, sultry way
Your clothes hugged your frame,
The dimensions of which too
Videovixenish for an aspiring
Schoolteacher,
(I thought in all my young male lecherous admiration)
I found my gaze diverting
Beneath your waist,
Your skirt displayed a tantalizing
Too-much-but-not-too-much
Thigh
Every time your legs crossed and
Recrossed

To my surprise,
You kept the exhibition going.

If I asked,
Would you,
Caught up in Summer Madness that hadn’t petered,
Have done something we’d
Love and not-love?
Would you have obeyed God’s edict:
To remain pure until you’ve received
The “Mrs.” honorific?
Were you one of the few women to
Refuse
The many suitors
We knew you pursued you?

... Or was I the only one who stood out?
Of all the men who wanted you,
Hounded you,
Thirsted for you,
I was the sole soul,
Bearing a semblance of self-understanding,
Ambition,
Loyalty, and
Verbosity,
The known unknowns of what you
(and maybe other women)
Want?

Remaining righteous with no test present—
Surely a tumultuous endeavor.

I must ask,
If you were surrounded by
Businessmen,
Actors,
Rappers,
Men of the highest order,
And they offered you
Many more known-unknowns of
What you want,
Would you still embrace the piety and
Innocence
We all value
If those ever-elusive men
Lusted after your refined character and
Ravishing appearance,
Would you case aside your religion
And succumb to your
Flesh
Sating the longings I know you had?

I know the answer to that choice,
And back then, in my
Black-and-White thought processes,
I would have condemned you for it,
But now,
Whichever path you traverse
Wide
or
Narrow,
Still, I
Understand.