Dave Bonta's short poem is about being pulled in two directions at once. The opening line defines desire as "a mind / with two ships in it," a striking image: wanting something means holding two separate vessels in the head, each ready to sail somewhere different. The title, "Divided loyalties," suggests the speaker is caught between two claims on him, though the poem never says exactly what they are.
Then the poem settles. The speaker "stayed with her" and walked, ending up "in a fable, / bound for bed." The choice seems made, and it's a physical, intimate one. But calling it a fable gives it a strange, dreamlike distance, as if the moment belongs to a story rather than ordinary life. A fable also often carries a lesson, which hints that something may be given up. The mood is quiet, a little hazy, and tinged with unresolved tension: the speaker has chosen, but the second ship hasn't quite vanished from his mind.