A single touch
Would break
My back and soul.
A touch to unload
All the burdens
These worn joints
Have been bearing.
Such a touch
Would cause my heart
To crumble.

Strong as an ox,
A horse, a water buffalo.
Fit as a fiddle,
A lute, a viola da gamba.
Happy as a clam,
A mussel, an Arctic quahog.

If only they knew
That a single touch
Would be my undoing,
Unraveling,
Fragmenting--
The one thing
That could make me
Breakdown.

If you knew...
Would your hand reach out
With all the care you could muster
To grasp my shoulder in support?
Would your arms invite
My head to lay across your breast
That I might cry out, alone no longer?

If you knew me,
Would you supply the touch
*My soul desires?