ANOTHER WALL

Here in the darkness I lie,
my wide-open eyes staring,
seeing nothing
Not moving, barely breathing
knowing you are awake, too
lying beside me
what I cannot see is the ice-wall
wide and deep and invisible
lying between us
though I feel a coldness
as from an invisible wind
which touches it
but you know it is there
you cannot reach through it
to touch me
nor even to tell me it is there
so I lie here, night after night
waiting for you
but you have fought the wall
failed again and again to scale it
defeated now
you no longer even try
to scale this wall or batter
through it
but despairing you lie there
scarred and exhausted from
your efforts
unable to try again, unable to say
just what it is you cannot try
and I
who cannot see the Wall
but only feel it’s cold wind
I lie here
alone with you in the darkness
my wide-open eyes
seeing nothing

©Lynn McMillen
1996