Tenderness and Rot

Tenderness and rot   
share a border.   
And rot is an   
aggressive neighbor   
whose iridescence   
keeps creeping over.   

No lessons   
can be drawn   
from this however.   

One is not   
two countries.   
One is not meat   
corrupting.   

It is important   
to stay sweet   
and loving.

Source: Poetry (January 2002)