I stood outside
While classmates partied,
learned to dance,
to hug, to savor perfume
and perspiration, and relished the smooth glide
of another’s thigh against a budding penis,
perhaps even tasted
the mint-gloss of a girlfriend’s lips,
I beat myself
at chess, read sci-fi and history.
At nights, as others snuggled,
I stood outside, erect
near a maple many-hued during Autumn daylight,
but gray as our Maltese cat at night.
I stared aloft at my only friends
as they twirled and twinkled
red, blue, yellow, or white
and danced through their galaxy
also isolated,
also alone.