I’ll save you a seat outside the circus

I wish

So much

That sometimes we could just take love

And paint in the holes

Where life is rough on some else’s surface

I wish

So much

That I could step in front

Take the brunt

But I can’t

And anyway

It is by being in the firing line

We learn that mouths

Aren’t loaded with bullets

They are not something to be feared

Words land like spears

But we can reach up

Twist them out

Change them around

Repurpose

And how do we learn that

If not be experience

It’s not something that is demonstrable

What makes us uncomfortable

Can’t be shifted

Like furniture

Wherever we sit

Someone else has been

But it was placed in a different scene

We only see what we see

Actors side by side all

But we’re watching different movies

Held in thrall

By the personal dramas playing out on the screen

The hourly matinee

Step back

Breathe self compassionately

Everything will move along without you

Just sit here with me

For another hour

I can’t take away what hurts you

Nor replace the lack of sleep

That installed those hollow circles beneath your eyes

Watch them crinkle when you smile

Let’s just sit here awhile

Until the circus moves along

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