Anthony W. Pahl

TACITURN VETERAN

Awarded: October 9, 2004Don’t look at me with pity;
Just please leave me alone.
Don’t speak or smile or whistle;
Don’t call me on the phone.

I won’t respond or answer;
I won’t share any of my pain.
I won’t blink if you approach me;
You won’t coax me to complain.

My tears are not for sharing;
They are mine and not for you.
You’ll never know the agony
Of the loss of friends I knew.

My silence and my solitude
Are safe havens in my life;
They enable me to stay alive
On this hellish pain filled earth.

So when I do not talk to you,
When I withdraw into my shell;
Stay near and keep an eye on me
While I’m in this lonely cell.

Submitted for the October 2004 IWVPA Club Theme Project, “Taciturnity”