People please me. This is something
I had forgotten, having hidden myself
So effectively from them. People
Frustrate me so deliciously too,
With their rash assumptions and
Misinterpretations, paint I am
Trying to strip away from myself.

Sometimes I simply need to be
Alone with everybody, beautifully
Drowning in conversation that
Washes gently over me like
The incoming tide.

There is a strange comfort
In other people’s trivia;
In their everyday lives that are
So different from mine and yet
Reassuringly similar. Perhaps it merely
Reminds me of the richness of
Language when it is spoken by
So many voices.

This is a part of me I have
Spent too many years trying
To forget; to lock away in
Dusty rooms of dead air.

My world receded, but now I am
Ready to rediscover old territory,
To reacquaint myself with
Old haunts, to restock my life
With old friends I should
Never have turned from.

I spent so long wanting to get away
That I forgot where home
Really is. Everything was here
All along, right where I left it,
Just waiting for me to
Reopen my eyes and my heart.

04/03/2017

Posted on 04/14/2017
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince