she held his hand like an object
feeling its smooth unfamiliarity
though they had been married ten years
his body almost totally unknown
him breathing hard like a diver
trying to understand depth asking why
she feeling she should have an answer
perhaps a simple man deserved that much
but it was profoundly beyond her
thinking back had she ever loved
even at the altar the emotion didn't well
in her breast as her mother said it would
she just stood rabbit in the headlights
while it all happened beyond her control
the kiss the honeymoon the house the kids
a perfectly staged play directed to script
her life lived by professional actors
she only a half-tix cheap-seat spectator
sleep-walking into somebody else's dream
who was this strange man who came at her
each night smelling of sweat and beer
who were these children who demanded
to be fed clothed cojoled into bed
when did these banal domesticities
begin to redefine her inner soul
who is she in this moment now
telling her husband it is over
all that living together was a myth
they will simply have to get along
separately somehow
© shaun patrick green 2012
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