From Dancing Moons, 1995, by Nancy Wood
I invite you to life
and you send regrets.
Sorry can't come, too late or
too soon, too busy, too scared,
Too much involved in the business of living.
The reasons you give
are a song all their own.
off-key and shallow, with the sound
of avoidance, the rhythm
Familiar, the words echoing the same old excuses.
I'll issue no more invitations
to you. The party's been
cancelled, the guests won't arrive
in time to find me having
A dance all my own. You see,
I invited myself to my life
and finally accepted.