Lies (poem)

The last time we touched

I felt a burst

Of something

From ground zero

To my outer rim

Was that you?

Was it me?

Or was it something

Outside us both

In between

The two of us

A connection gone live

With our touch?

Was it my imagination

Or was it real?

Was it the smoke

From a distant fire?

Or was it the heat

From an eternal flame?

Nothing would make me

Feel more like a god

Than for your being true

(To yourself, not me)

To bring you to me

Nor more like a worm

Than for you to stay here

Trying to be true

(To me, not yourself)

For you to be true

To yourself

There is nothing more important

For me than this

I love you was not just an echo

The only lies you ever tell me

Are the lies you tell yourself

(I must acknowledge references to the songs “Smoke From A Distant Fire”, written and sung by John Sanford and Ed Townsend, and “Eternal Flame”, written by Susanna Hoffs, Billy Steinberg, and Tom Kelly, and sung by The Bangles.)