I know there are times you don’t see me,
times when we are apart and I am so far
from you that I don’t cross your mind.
Those are the times the gates fly open
and you round up the cattle to keep
you company in the empty field.
You tell yourself it’s innocent,
I know you do, that it’s all in good fun.
It’s a game with no rules
but everyone, including me, know
when it’s played. I fear these times
the most. It feels like my heart
is buried under stone after stone,
a weight so heavy I begin to choke.
You know nothing of that though.
It is a concern I keep to myself,
in my locket that I guard better
then I am able to guard my heart
from you and your field that feeds
plenty when I am away. I wonder
how long it takes for something
to remind you of me, if it happens
at all. Does it take minutes or hours
or even days? Maybe you don’t think
of me the whole time I am away
for I am not there to keep them at bay
and you are too weak in the knees
not to fall at the feet of these sheep
and ask them to play with a big bad wolf.
