some girls are so beautiful

some girls are so beautiful that they break your heart before
they ever open their mouths

and when they do, their words go through
so many revolutions in the air
and bounce back between so many mirrors
that they are blind, white noise by the time they reach you

and so you nod

and apologize under your breath
when they duck their heads to tuck a piece of gleaming hair
or they turn their long and muscled neck
to catch a glimpse of something
they hope to be half as beautiful as the simple act
of their turning --

you apologize that they are the wives that we covet

whether we are wives or we want them
you apologize that you can't hear their words
the way they mean them
you apologize that to some, they are nothing more
than a sin

than a dark and tempting thought,
than the guilt of desire undesired
or the rabid rouge of desire desired

you apologize that they are the object of so many sentences
quietly regretted.

I am sorry
because you did not ask for this.

And I say it to the ugly woman too.

I am sorry
because you did not ask for this.

I am sorry for my thoughts
and for all the others.