Mournful

Mara Lynn Barbee

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I watch your silence from my own,
and hurt along with you.
You won't share pain, so it remains...
...This is nothing new.

I know you hurt, and I know what's worse:
you think you're the only one.
You think it don't matter to us if you're shattered
...at least that's how it seems when all's done.

I know far too few details
but have the bare bones;
what you call "your problem"
is not yours alone.

A personal catastrophe
upsets one life, true;
but maybe you've noticed:
there's more to life than you.

You may think it unnoted,
the way you don't smile,
or laugh long, or tell jokes,
or have fun more than once in a while.

You are not invisible,
and neither are your emotions.
Your unhappiness brings others down;
what a strange notion!

I won't make light of a problem,
nor laugh it off or belittle it.
Things are bad; I respect that.
But lighten up a bit!

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