suppression as punishment
all that was waiting to get out until the moment
when rough hands with ripped nails
slid and caught on your child-like skin

that release, that expression,
spilling out like music, like clear water,
like a cool breeze through the screen on a hot summer night,
suddenly stopped up,
forced inside

to hide everything
and feel nothing
but anger and resentment and fear
is no life to live
is no life at all

do something; give me something
so i can understand again
what it is to feel the heart,
to feel any of the connected human emotions
before it goes so far until i can't remember
they should have been there