---

Are you sitting down?

The question

Free from cruelty or dispassion

It didn't matter

Silence followed as the phone rang

Again, as it had before

Theresa

Why must I be subject

You never deserved it

The reflection of light in my eye

Off the blade of a knife

That couldn't fix the mood

The slab of butter on bread

Alone, I questioned

Her new-found hope

Maybe i was protecting her

But what if i was right?

The thin veil could not mask her eyes

Nor the sorrow they conveyed

Theresa

A look so honest, sincere

Walking together

Separated by distinction

She asked me why

Turned her head away in distaste

The ground we walked

A firm pathway

To the figure that appeared before me

Uncertain of her motivations

I became certain of my own

Theresa

Standing aside for me to move forward

The hand I held in mine

The gentle urging before me

Theresa

I let go