Each Time We Touch
Each time we touch
I feel you turning away
listening to voices I cannot hear
fearing words you cannot say
I'm trying to find your words
help you to hold on
My face and hands are numb
and now my legs What use
are words what I say
Now one of us is letting go
and one must stay
Holding and parting a ritual
of reassurances and gasps
stumbling one now the other
We reach for assurance
and find faith to laugh
I join our hands and we
walk awhile not alone
till one is taken and one
is walking home
Copyright 04/25/91 Unpublished Works William M. Shannon