For Jim and Chris
written December 18, 1967
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For Jim and Chris
(I can’t remember who they were in 2016)

Why won’t they admit they want to love,
     Those masked faces that scorn emotion
     In angry games
     That probe for another’s weakness?
     Is the fear of nakedness so great?

Tranquility seems lost in this age,
     Love replaced by a craving for excitement.
     I see a conceived being nestled in the womb
     Of a woman torn apart
     With fear and self pity
     And a man masochistically angry
     Because his precious inner sanctity
     Has been threatened.

Through self-deceiving acts that served only
     To separate them from
     Their own insecurity;
     Two people played God
     Without knowing the beauty
     That being a god can bring.

 I wonder if that child to be,
     If allowed to inhale
     That first sweet breath of life,
     Can ever know love
     Being born from fear and hate?

Why won’t they forget those mirages
     They mistake for identities
     And look to each other
     For the love they really want?
     Why can’t they “blow their cool”
     And enjoy the beauty of that love?

But even I wear a mask
     That confines the love I want
     Within a sphere of rationality.
     So, I guess I am directing the questions
     More at myself than at them.