One Bit of Difference

What would happen
If you took the chance and
Really let me see you?

Not the confident self
Strutting about
As if there was nothing wrong,
No stone of grief upon your chest,
No tears of sorrow
Welled up behind those eyes.

I couldn’t handle it.
You’re sure I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t be a safe harbor
For your long hidden fears.

How could I be?
I don’t know you,
Couldn’t know you,
Couldn’t love you enough
To see myself in you.

What if I did see you?
Would it matter?
Does the light of compassion
Really make one bit of difference?
All I know is that

It is a sad and lonely beauty,
That graces the heart unseen.
Kick a hole in the old rotten
Fence between us,
And pull me through.

I am here
On the other side,
Waiting for you.

Scott DuRoff  2/2012