…in your shoes

with hands clasped to my chest

trying mightily

to hold all the pieces together

guilt and innocence,

here and anywhere else

youth and uninvited wisdom

I look around hoping

that someone else could take my place

but this has become my place

my place to grow older today

a cataclysm of possibilities

and all I can do is wave people by.

like the car before you

I wave you by

please don’t see me.

I steal my eyes to the ground

and we both see

loss

where once was life

it wasn’t my fault

the cat ran across the road

but for every little child

who has lost a pet

i wore their tears

and all you did….

was drive by

It has been months since

and I remain haunted

by the tears on your face

so poignant was the collision

of innocence and grief

as you waved me by.