My Fear

I fear…so I write

Then I fear…because I’ve written

And all because I have voices that can’t ever be silenced

And when my mind has erased the history I made

The voices recorded on paper

Will refill my head with tales

That I’ll be able to live

Unaware I’ve already lived

But what scares me the most

Are the faces I’ve painted into words  

And the inability that will afflict me

To read the love for those tucked into my works

For the loves, the lovers, the lovingly admired strangers

And I fear that my heart won’t be able to recognize the differences

And we will all be strangers mingling amongst the wilds

Never touching

E.A. O'Connell