The Fragile Threads of Power

2024 Poetry Project — #10

Photo by Fadi Xd on Unsplash

magic —
i want to know it
in the touch of a brief meeting,
a happenstance of the senses.

but i’m so weak,
barely able to be believed,
until i cannot stand to be
known or loved or understood.

i watch the stars at night
through a lens of ephemera,
and i ask for so much knowledge
that i almost weep for it.

understanding
doesn’t come easily —
and truth doesn’t know
these bounds i see every day.

there’s an invisible boundary line
between you and me —
and someday it will break,
or so i hope on this windfall day.

i don’t ask for much —
and i don’t seek much penance —
but i ask for everything in spades
as if i hope for something beyond me.

oh, the powers that be
have made it so i won’t be happy —
and i’ll just bring misery
to whoever seeks me out…