when your love is unrequited
you resort to witticisms
exaggerations of beauty
you step into the limelight
of a halogen street lamp
the sidewalk is your comedy club
the rain makes the concrete
acoustically esoteric

this is where the banter begins
choreograph your wordplay
around Romeo's swordplay
as he treads war-like footwork
and feints Paris' jealousy
layer your vulgarities with
Shakespeare's clever puns of
robbing maidens of their heads

unrequited love can fulfill
its destiny violently
in a bathtub or an alley
because love is pain and pain
is violence and violence
arouses warm-hearted laughter