An old poem: Speaking Truly

I have been writing poetry since I was young. My first poem happened when I was about 11. I don't have it anymore or any of the rest I wrote as a teenager. What a loss. Not because they were good, but because they would give a peek into the type of youngster I was.

I have all the poems I wrote from 1984 onwards. I wrote this poem in 2002 after I had just met a good friend of mine from India and faced her stoically about my divorce. This was the result.

Speaking Truly

I tell people I don’t think of you anymore

That I am strong, and matter of fact

That you don’t really matter

For I have come too far for that.

I tell people I am quite the same

Not broken or incomplete

That there are still reasons to laugh

That one gets over the grief.

I meet friends with dry eyes

And bland smiles that are hard to question

With a quick shrug on my shoulders

That’s ready to perform when summoned.

I tell myself I am not blinded, I can find my way

Even though you turned away your eyes

Even though my hand is no longer in yours

But these are all lies…these are all lies.