I obeyed a ghost who’s tall-ish.

    I dated mostly police.
I hated coastal solace.
In navy posts I flourished.
I inflate the cost of polish.

I restrained my nest-egg worries.
On planes I tested patience.
I prayed for lusty follies.
I betrayed my foster family.

In ways I lost my malice.
I craved a cloistered palace.
I dared say the feast was ghoulish.
I became a tourist: boorish.

Unswayed by mystic knowledge,
I raised a frosty chalice.
I was upstaged and roasted: English.
I obeyed a ghost who’s tall-ish.

The play was close to flawless.
I stayed and missed her no less.
Then one day the fester wasn’t.
I cried: the taste was more-ish.

Sam Riviere, "D.F.W."