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KNOWING

Friday night.
She smiles knowingly.
She’s seen it all before.
She’s sure of herself
And sure of her being.
Seeing through the bar-room smoke
The blokes
Bloating themselves on beer
And brotherly banter.
Raconteurs and reprobates
Elate and preen side-by-side
In the shallow camaraderie.
Free, for the moment
From corporate and matrimonial shackles;
From boardroom and bedroom battles
Both won and lost
At the cost of ego and self esteem.
Dreams of wealth and power
Find their hour in this surreal sublimation;
Short-lived elation
Or hero adulation unleashes the macho male
To let him fly – for now.
But he soon falls in a slurring heap
To weep incoherent pleadings
For love and his mother’s touch.
Much more than she could give.
So she lives for the while
Behind that knowing smile.
 

                                                  Rod Jones 
                                                                            20 July 2007