Reassurance
When did it start to be this way? Here or there once I was confided in,
my opinion sought, my countenance searched. I was no wiser than most
but I was your sage, your guide. And you mine. We had no need of mutual
reassurance. Pulled back safe, we were released to a world that took note
of people like us – our own sure category. But time told and we became
just persons together. Marbles in a pinball bagatelle, scoring their separate
ways past the nailed fences. You now flee as I come near, walk away from
questions of when and where and why. I realised in random stages but
you never needed to tell the truth if the truth be told. I make discoveries
alone, insights that glint like coal as the cellar door yawns open. These,
empty scuttles of sense, I never found the time to steal and spy and search.
But I sleep carefully on my side, trying not to wake you or to slip my mind
July 2020