“To a Friend in Need”

My dearest, my mind struggles to withstand

Thoughts of your melancholy smile, grim resolve

To do no harm and yet some slight of hand

Wounds you. Some pain you forever befall.

Alas, my speech falls hollow, my gestures

Drift emptied of soul, barren as you look

The other way. This affliction festers;

How my heart cried as you hated and shook.

But they never knew you were the object

Of you own bitter scorn. If you would see

Through my eyes, distinct from what they project,

Then you would know you, not what “has” to be.

I know that you hurt, are misunderstood,

And I love you, as each and every should.