Now Remembering

When in that long dumb moment
Trifling words failed you today
My eyes were but a crystal through which
You looked out at some deep trouble.

Should I have betrayed awareness and laid
A comforting finger? I should have wanted
The crystal to become opaque to save me
From what I might say in that moment.

But now, remembering, in the night, I choke,
Lest your desperate moment found me wanting.

^__Margaret E. Haughawout.

Sheep's Clothing
Margaret E. Haughawout
Page 49
(Pittsburg, Kansas: __. 1929)