The Girl on Stilts

You lived
In the corner house
And your name
Was Carol

You gave me
My first kiss
Behind the forsythia bush
When we were six

A kid’s kiss
But still - a real kiss
Right on the lips

There may have been
A second one
But I don’t remember
Because the other kids
Found us and you ran
From our hidden Eden
Crying

And when you told your father
What had happened
He said we could never play
Together again -
Seemingly harsh punishment
For a promiscuous child's crime

But you served your time -
A week of confinement
to your backyard -
Parading clumsily around
on the stilts he made you -
Probably hoping they would purge
your mind of foolish temptations
and accelerate your rehabilitation

But they didn't -
And a month later
You got caught
Kissing another boy