PAD Day 23: Appointments of the Heart

  

Today's prompts frm Write Better Poetry and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write an "appointment" poem, and (2) write a poem that is a response to another poem. I've already done a few poems that could be considered "responses" already this month (see Days 2, 5, 6, and the third poem from Day 19). But, hey, why not do another? I Googled "appointment poems" and came up with this gem from Thomas Hardy:

A Broken Appointment
by Thomas Hardy
 
You did not come,
And marching Time drew on, and wore me numb,—
Yet less for loss of your dear presence there
Than that I thus found lacking in your make
That high compassion which can overbear
Reluctance for pure lovingkindness’ sake
Grieved I, when, as the hope-hour stroked its sum,
You did not come.
 
You love not me,
And love alone can lend you loyalty;
–I know and knew it. But, unto the store
Of human deeds divine in all but name,
Was it not worth a little hour or more
To add yet this: Once you, a woman, came
To soothe a time-torn man; even though it be
You love not me?

So here is his subject's response:
 
Misappointment
 
I did not go.
I couldn't see a way for this to grow.
Was I supposed to be your next affair?
I didn't show for sake of both our hearts,
what lunch might lead to, feelings you might share.
I think that I must stop before it starts.
I left you there, you sorry sack of woe.
I did not go.

Note I kept the same form and rhyme scheme as the original. I guess I threw in that cruel little zinger at the end because I thought the poem needed a surprise twist. Also, Hardy's speaker sounds so sorry for himself.  

And here's a second poem, written for just the "appointment" prompt:

Appointments for the Heart
 
At our age, in these times,
we call any outing a "date" -
the supermarket, fast-food drive-thru,
a walk around the block.
 
Today it was back-to-back appointments
with our cardiologist.
She went in first, then I was invited
to join her as she finished up.
 
The doctor read our EKGs, long
mountain ranges of heartbeat,
and said everything looked good.
The three of us talked test results,
blood pressure, cholesterol,
prescriptions, exercise, diet.
 
We left, papers in one hand,
each other's hand in the other,
two hearts moving us forward
with a promise of new adventures.