Black and White

This is obscene

I think, with a playful smile

All this noise

And partying like

The world might end

At any second

And when that ball drops

So will the young ones

Clad in white

Tasting their first flight

Their first joints

In their excitable fingertips

Grinding on the dance floor

Laughing, talking and singing

Begging for more

While their elders in black

Croon to one another eagerly

Charming introductions

To new faces

Cool and collected confidence

Interrupted by squeals of delight

Hugs and kisses to the old

Embraces with new stories

Attached to arms with

Surprises up their sleeves

A loud, Essex gay

Stands in line to the bathroom

A cup in one hand

A bottle of whiskey in the other

He tells me pieces of his story

And I am fascinated to hear it

Until

A delicate blonde in white

Apologetically introduces herself

To the same person (me)

Three times

Unaware that her youth

Grants her a kind of fragility

That makes her infinitely forgivable

And instantly likable

Meanwhile

A handsome stranger

Tall and aloof

Holds a bottle of wine in one hand

And has the swagger of someone

Who is used to being on the fringe

Approached by curious adolescents

Occasionally nipping the bud

Of those who stare too hard

At his pronounced cheekbones

He carries the bottle

And while it seems to get lighter

I cannot recall seeing him sip from it once

Others in black and white

Flounce around one another

Embracing their intoxicating youth

Delighted to be young and free and

burdened with the crushing weight

of an uncertain future

they forcibly ignore with each sip

Each hit

Each embrace

Each step

Each sudden kiss

High-energy conversations

Periodic displays of increasing dramatism

I watch it all in grey

Politely fascinated by the spectacle

Staring too hard

Smiling too wide

A Jell-O shot in one hand

A cup of water in the other

I break away periodically from the chaos

For the peace of the moon in fractured starlight

The clamorous uproar behind me fading to a shuddering pulse

As the door closed behind me

I sigh as I am cast in sharp Relief

Clad all in gray

Away from the black

And away from the white

Their beauty still burned into

My minds eye

Their kindness was off putting

Beautiful and kind and young and free

Like the moon,

I decided with a drunken sip of water

I am delighted by my own profound mental wonderings

And at 21 believe myself

Rare