1 <br />between us <br /> a wounded silence <br /> of pain, torturous <br /> across the room <br /> endless horizon <br /> of invisibility <br /> studied distances - <br /> <br /> your eyes <br /> gaze furtively <br /> i catch them <br /> and quickly <br /> you turn away <br /> <br /> i sit transfixed <br /> feverishly nursing <br /> a throbbing head <br /> you swing and fling <br /> arms and voice <br /> above the rest <br /> of the dancers moving <br /> to the rock music <br /> of a rained-in party. <br /> <br /> i do not know anymore <br /> how to read <br /> eyes, motions <br /> of protection. <br /> i do not know anymore <br /> how to shed layers <br /> of pretensions. <br /> <br />2 <br /> women, feminists say <br /> do not make each other <br /> enemies, after the phase <br /> of loving and sharing <br /> warm beds and starlit nights <br /> both feel the same pain <br /> but patriarchy <br /> is such a good mentor <br /> and we have been <br /> good students. <br /> <br /> <br />3 <br /> the moon with an iris <br /> hallowed in the skies <br /> a pastel hue of blue <br /> and misty grey <br /> we held hands <br /> chemistry does not lie <br /> and then the next day <br /> you said, there is <br /> nothing between us. <br /> i look at my hands <br /> feel the gripping ghost <br /> of your touch. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />4 <br /> do not touch my forehead <br /> in the despair <br /> of a stress-produced <br /> headache, your touch <br /> is like an enemy <br /> stalking through the dark <br /> and when i light <br /> my heart, you shoot <br /> your arrow <br /> right into my death <br /> <br />5 <br /> a friend had said <br /> intuition is woman’s best guide: <br /> feel our hearts <br /> i thought i felt something <br /> more than a friendly touch <br /> and my friend will <br /> never lie <br /> and i do not. <br /> <br />6 <br /> where is the politics <br /> in all this? <br /> my wounded heart <br /> learns again <br /> the essence of struggle <br /> this time, my fears <br /> my own enemy<br /><br />Aida Santos<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/notes-on-pain/
