Whispered Wanderings

I

I bide my time in dormancy…
in purposeful hibernation I
lure you into complacent forgetting.
Once the planned forgetting is complete
again I rise;
stronger than last we met,
burrowed more deeply into your psyche.

You can’t shake me, you know:
I’ve always been a part of you.
Oh, you can try your little parlor tricks,
tease me out now and again, even
catch a fleeting glimpse of my face but

Fleeting is all it will ever be. For I
will not participate
in your nonsense. Leave me alone,
as I wish to be;
go knock on somebody else’s door.

II

I’ve sensed that luring you do:
but only recently.
So I’ll wrap my arms around myself and hold all of me
in love.

I saw you today; I did!
For the briefest of moments: I saw
your face twisted with
the pain of not-enough-ness
the loneliness of feeling invisible
I saw you

I see you and

I’ll love you until you are able
to love
yourself.

klm
10/13/23