Unlikely Optimist
  by Cliff Roberts

As aesthetically pleasing
and intellectually stimulating
as you are
Nicholas,
I am taking my leave of you
     for a time.

I have lived through another millennium
and now I realize,
one day
you will come to me again.

You search for a cure
for your
"condition,"
     you long for your lost humanity.

But what happens,
Nicholas,
when one day
you realize
as a mortal
you must die,

when, even lost in guilt
you never had the courage
to court the sun
or embrace a branch?

On that day of comprehension
you will search for me
to beg me
for my lips
once more.

April '00