a lack

on the outside

s/he appears to be

altogether sound,

with all the proper

pieces fastened together

in order to keep

the whole of

his/her personality in

tact---

on the outside s/he

can smile, laugh,

make witty conversation

& appear as if

with overwhelming

joy, s/he could light

up a room---

but there is something

wrong---has been for

quite a long time &

of its origin, s/he has no

idea (but it is winning).

 

these days there is a

lack of ability to get close,

a lack of ability to extend

oneself out to others in

the way that a “friend” might,

in the way that one might

if they were not hiding anything---

the difference is that

s/he has begun to hide it

all, s/he has begun to die

inside & wants absolutely no one

to know.

 

doctors may talk of

“attachment issues,” but this

doesn’t help the present---

for doctors do not walk in the

shoes of the suffering,

doctors do not know the

experiences in one person’s life,

they only read about them &

even those who have had their own

individual experiences

cannot compare them to all

whom they meet, attempting to

fix the world,

one broken, fading, wreck of

a life,

after another.