Some time ago
My skin turned wooden
My feet moulded into one
Foot
I slipped
And smudged the painted grid
On the marble floor
Another time I fell
And did not stop
I rolled right off the board
It was not a conscious decision
To spectate rather than participate
But it happened
As it does to many
Who give up on giving
When you undertake solely seeing
You relinquish being
But not feeli...

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We met in Berlin when the wall was crumbling

Two students amid the chaos of living history

It was like war-time only in reverse

How we lunged at each other was no mystery

Marriage was just a matter of course

Then our careers upset the apple-cart

You went on business back to Berlin and stayed

Leaving me with the kids and a broken heart

You'd altered little but for a fro...

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You are inside me but you are not really in.

I am clenching around you but I am not really close.

Such a paradox.

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I've built a
wall around
myself.

I keep even
my loved ones
out.

They are hurt
and think I
am mad at
them.

No, I just don't
want to bring
them down.

I don't want
to make them
depressed too.

Shirley Smothers

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