My paper
	Intimidates me.
	Once the door
	To my soul,
	How reluctantly
	This flat,
	White rectangle
	Opens now.
	Anxiously,
	Pen in hand,
	I peer
	Into the dingy
	Depths of my heart
	And see
	Little there
	I remember
	From the days
	Before
	I threw you out.
	Body and soul,
	Smiles and laughter,
	Love and music,
	All that was you
	And yours
	I tossed aside,
	For I could not abide
	Sharing you
	With any other.
	I shut you out
	Of my heart.
	I didn't know
	My poems would go,
	My music would
	No longer flow.
	I hadn't thought
	The light would die,
	Or that clouds
	Would fill the sky,
	All beauty fade away.
	Ah, hold tightly
	To a friend!
	With both trembling
	Hands hold fast,
	For no empty heart,
	No vacant page,
	No hollow soul
	Is worth
	A precious,
	Loving friend!

	8/29/91