I am no longer found in the faces

I Am No Longer Found in the Faces

I am no longer found

in the faces.

Where am I?

I have given myself away…

a quarter of a teaspoon at a time.

No one is fed.

The famine feeds off me.

Full from feeding

yet no one is fed

Only those who

have not fed

their hunger

escape starvation

I am no longer found

in the faces

Where am I?

I have given myself away…

a quarter of a teaspoon at a time.

No one is fed.

The famine feeds off me.

Full from feeding

yet no one is fed.

Only those who

have not fed

their hunger

escape starvation.

I was only alone once,

and then with the promise of you.

Now grasses blow

and I have no strength

to bend with them.

A hidden brittleness

aches to break

but it doesn’t.

Is the whole world lonely as I?

No, hell no

They are so certain

quadruple somersaults

with a net

Cut the ropes

and a simple hand,

mine, reaches

for yours.

Poem by Ray Songs (1995)