Sometimes degrees of love are all that’s left.
You wipe your tears
Brush your hair
Smile through tinted lips.
Behind the eyes
Not dead, but sleeping
Hope dwells in chains
Hungry for freedom.
Pride rises.
Refuses to accept
Admit that help is needed
Polite refusal your only recourse.
This barren life.
Love holds it together
Fighting the anger
The tsunami of despair.
Behind four walls
Safe from the questions
Safe from the truth
The air that suffocates.
The compliments of others
Kind but not needed
Your façade deceiving
But for how long
An eternity it seems.
The plight of others
Ignites the spirit
Rejuvenates forgotten promises.
We stand on corners
Us against the world.
But no one’s listening
Self- preservation
The mother of indifference
Sleep
Your only escape.
R.M Roberts ©2012
Tales From Behind A Cushion 