Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

I Shut My Eyes

She’d often shut her eyes and smile
whenever she was happy.

She’d also shut them whenever
she was mad, frustrated or upset
and wanted to shut out the world,
often shutting me out in turn,
often because I was what was burning
a hole in her sense of being and balance.

Ironically, I always felt compelled to dig in,
rather then to let go at these times;
I wanted things to always be copasetic between us,
because for me anger was a sign that it wasn’t.

Alas, there were differences.
irreconcilable, if only because
although our bodies could share the same space,
our hearts, minds and souls were worlds apart—

I pined to wander when she yearned to settle down;
she wanted to have babies, “Now!,” when
I already knew why and how children are easier
to conceive conceptually than they are to raise
in reality.

Sometimes, I shut my eyes
to bring her back to me;
sometimes I open them
to know that she is gone.


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(R&O thank you for the inspiration)
Lorenzo

Rose, Olive & Me