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My little sweet
The sun has beat
Winter to defeat
For now we greet
Spring upon a nesting seat
Old friends fresh we meet
Upon the cherry blossomed street

There's never been a silence
She hasn't felt compelled to fill
In the quiet there’s a violence
Inducing impromptu words to spill

She will never favour speaking
She would love to undershare
When the silence starts shrieking
She hopes they've words to spare

Any pause in conversation
An impressive act of will
A study in frustration
A lull she’d love to ****

She'd love to sit silent as a rock
To possess some small mystique
Without a burning need to talk
Letting all her secrets leak

Please show her some mercy
Take your share of the burden
No need for controversy
Just a moment to put your word in

Feeling bad
Feeling Ill
Tried to get moving
Lost the will

Tried to be useful
Couldn’t do it
Tried to meet the day
Slept right through it

Feeling guilty
But mostly relieved
Everyone was fine
While I underachieved

Feeling better
Seized the sunrise
Amassing check marks
For the big prize

Into the dark hours of morning
I run
Weary and aching
Falling forward
Step after step
Street after street

Until I find
A familiar curve in the road
Surrounded by trees
I used to know
Then pain and glass
Slippery sharp
Embedded in my sole

I pull for a lifetime
Slowly guiding out
Shard after giant shard
Until I am bathed in reflected sunrise
Now I can go home

NCL April 2019

When it was all too much
And we needed someplace safe
To escape our failures and mistakes
The best place to cry
Was the sixth floor women's washroom

The stalls were large enough
To hold most afflictions of misery
The walls muffled the echoes
Giving privacy in a moment of distress
And the flourescent lights held back respectfully

Someone had set up a small basket
For anyone who needed refreshing
And then as women do
The offerings of comfort collected
And in this sterile place over time
Women made a safe and beautiful space
To recover until they were ready
To face the world again

I watch those numbers
     Every day
Is it insanity?
     I’d rather not say
Is it necessary?
     Can’t imagine how it could be
Will it matter to anyone?
     No one but me
I should stop
     And yet...

NCL June 2019