The sadness in their eyes

I have seen the sadness in
Their eyes as night
draws in, seen
the slump of shoulder downcast mien the
giving up and

I have touched and murmured
loving words to
salve the drear that
night brings in and

more……………….

I have felt the tears and
closed my eyes to think
was I one too
who failed to yield and give, who as
Lycidas
drowning
clung on in hope
that rage would turn to placid
re-acceptance of my suit, was I

with Martha
the dark, grey eminence of her
dream, I
think
not too much because t’was done before
she succumbed to the drear
of waiting for Godot as though
t’were night eternal to be recked, through
all this bitter strife and Pam who

parted from me with a sad smile and
held me
tightly with her warmth
wafting up into the
ether of my secret life and
I cried, I
cried as I cry still, I had
gone to another’s shallow sickness

gone to ills
iatrogenic in their slow seepage, in their
slow enervation of the heart, in their
slow destruction of another, so

I have
felt these tears in two regards, as giver
of these plangent drops and
yielding lamb, I

have seen the sadness in their eyes as candle-light
infuses love with
new respect, with
new respect as night draws in and
all is meant to be soft to
walk on cat feet to
amble over tumbling smiles and
the giggles that we once knew more but
even now seem meet, replete
as we are with sighing

and
yes, and

I have seen how they become stony these women and
feel the waves that once enchanted them
now abrade and
rob them of their nature the
slow swish of seashell shriving comber
rolling over and over the stony curves of us
sere, sea-salt sucking out life from limb these
rhythmic abrasions
which in their exquisite and relentless
Chinese-nesssssssssssssssss

grind down our will and
make us yield to the raw writ from
Mr McCawber and Associates, in
return for certain considerations you shall…………..

I have seen the sadness in their eyes when they
wish to love but cannot, when they
wish to hope and hope they can
but cannot, when they
hope to wish but
cannot

I have seen the light first limn then
glim then
with a last flicker essay
as final as the last
breath, how we

hold others in our thrall, how we
dictate the terms of each day’s pain, how we
cause puppet to dance in a tizzy, how we
enlightened as we be drive home
the lesson that
we wish
the sad, grey eyes to know, how we
smirk, yes

I have seen the sadness of their eyes

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