The View From Here

W e   A r e   N o t   O n e

I keep my heart in a velvet-lined box, locked tightly
In a chest, upon a pedestal, inside a guarded room,
High up in a great tower, without stairs or windows,
Safe against assault by those who would shatter it. :                                                                               :

I keep the key on a carbon-steel chain of intricate
Links, forged in the heat of passion and tempered
By tears shed in private and ever always held close
While I sleep, so no one can steal it away from me. :                                                                               :

I built this tower, brick by brick, year after year,
Rising ever higher with each new loss, the mortar
Grist from my heart’s hardened edges, reinforced
By the steel-eyed gazes belying any hurt feelings. :                                                                            :

I look in from the dark, through a gauzed window,
At the happy people gathered around one another,
Wond’ring how easy for some and yet so difficult
For the others, and what difference leads the way. :                                                                            :

I laugh and pretend it really doesn’t matter at all,
Knowing no one knows or even really cares to know,
Yet knowing they wonder, safe in their own tower
Waiting, hidden deep inside, far from prying eyes.                         
 :                                                                            :  

I know this to be true of us all, we each share such
Loneliness, piercing and deep, fueled by our fears,
Driven by the wolves of doubt, a desperate need
To become more than one, to exchange me for we.