Sadness

(A poem I wrote--I don't know when) and found in my desk drawer. It's about coming to grips with sadness.)

                SADNESS

 I've noticed you before, over the years, the decades,

standing in the corner of those room,

passing out the door as I was coming in,

walking down the street outside my house

with an umbrella and a dog,

whether it was raining or not.

 

You were not unattractive--in fact there was a certain

fascination about you in you calm and stoic look.

I liked the way you held my glance when I would

look away, how I would remember your eyes before I slept.

 

It was your eyes, you know, that made me nod

and maybe even smile as we almost touched

in the halls ways of my life. Nod and smile, that much

and never more before turning away to speak to another.

Your eyes troubled me,

frightened me, brought me night terrors,

because you saw into the soul of me and did not flinch.

 

Recently, our hands have almost touched, both reaching

for some cheese or a slice of melon at a party where we

both felt out of place. And I see you eyes all new,

a different way--and fear you less.

 

So, I invite you into my home, my thoughts, my heart,

to learn what dreadful and healing thing you have

to tell me, whisper into my tears and to feel

your lips against my own, kissing and tasting and giving life.