Lifelong Handicap (Poetry)

I have come to think
there lurks inside me
somewhere dark and deep
an unhappy gene
long inherited

Its sad pedigree
passed on in the blood
of generations
born to be morose
denied lasting joy

It might go some way
to explaining a
perverse tendency
to want what I know
I can never have

I’m a slave to some
psychological
predisposition
a sure recipe
for a haunted life

There’s no cure for this
ill-starred legacy
no operation
on love removes it —
I’ve scars to prove it