A Troubling Taciturnity

Of what would you have me speak,

What would you have me say?

Are you interested in my thoughts

Or just intrigued by the way

I sometimes sit in silence,

My veiled eyes fixed within

As I look back on horrific scenes

From places I have been?

Do you really care why I brood?

Would you like to share this mood?

Do you truly want to come with me…

Live these things I can’t help but see?

They’ve dwelt within me for so long

In the private places of my soul

They’re now an integral part of me

And cannot be so easily told

To someone who cannot imagine

How such terrible things came to be

Though I long to purge myself of them

So I can once again be free.

I beg you, have a little patience,

And wait for just a bit more

Until the day I can come to you

To share what makes my heart sore.

Please…never, never, ever think

These are secrets I wish to keep;

If I could, I’d give them all away

In exchange for dreamless sleep.

But, for now, and just a while longer

…Hopefully, not for eternity,

With your patient understanding

I'll keep it all inside of me.

© 10/8/2004 Thurman P. Woodfork

9 October 2004