The Favored

Center of attention

Knaves and would-be lovers tangle rapturously in words

That slip from her tongue in silken eloquence

A sweet cascade of wanton thought

All ears within this space entombed

Wait restlessly to hear her next remark

And breathless expectations hang in silence

All the more fulfilling for their pains

They wonder at this mortal who, so much unlike myself,

Can serve to them their hearts upon a tray

While yet they watch

So helplessly bemused by artful guile

Here I, the keeper of the peace with aching heart

Wish desperately to catch the falling crumbs

 And form of them a way to learn this grace

To hold within my hands this thing elusive

This riddle that I’ve failed to understand

While all the while these words

Held captive in my mind

Begin to tremble with the need to be set free

“Look at me!”

“See me!”

“I’ll never hurt you, tease you, leave you, break your heart!”

“I want only to be known and to be seen for who I am -

Held separate and apart, not part of her

To have something that is ever all my own

That cannot be distracted by the banter and the guise

To see me, and me alone – be mine, all mine

To fascinate, to love, to form a thought.

Is it really all too much to ask?"

 Laughter bleeds back into my hearing

I look around at nothing that has changed

And all that is the same

Center of attention

So far away from me, so unconcerned

I am companion to the favored - nothing more

As still and calm I sit

In utter silence