To Aurora

Forgive me.
I don't need the things you said
that I need from you,
that you can't give me
I know they are not in your power to give
I know where your struggle must be
I felt the deep despair in you
and rejoiced at being needed as a friend
at being greeted with such relief
as a balm to your anguish
even as I suffered with you
I felt your pain and reached out
And spoke in the only language I knew to you
The clumsy metaphors of our old ways of being
To at least show that you are loved
Thinking I might provoke your tears
To help speed your healing
Instead I drove you away
And earned only sorrow
for both of us
I hope someday the songbirds sing again
That I hear your voice in gladness and friendship
In some epoch when the stars have come back out
Forgive me.