the first time was the worst
she turned her shoulder to him
too tired from being too busy
a brick
he learned brick by brick
not to offer his hand in affection
turning longing to asking to begging
if she in anger had thrown real bricks
leaving him battered and bloodied on the floor
his heart would have survived that din of fury
but not indifference stacked against his desire
not the absence of him in all the flurry of her
everything and anything else except next to him
brick upon brick upon brick
and both then over time fell to masonry
building their separate walls of business
walls so tall and wide they found themselves
all alone each in a world of her and his creation
walls of business
rooms of loneliness
lives of resentment
brick by brick by brick
mortaring off the only thing that matters
their warm intimacy offered one to one
shared freely and often saying wordlessly
you are and i am and thus we shall always be
