I'M So Independent

You’re reading this as I write. Straight out of True Confessions. It wasn’t long after you left That I began to live for myself. You say you knew that? Oh, OK. I guess you could tell, Being out there, With true eyes and ears… That clear, meatless perception Oh, you say you always knew that. OK. Still... After you left, I was independent of worry When you coughed, When you slept late and I dreaded opening the door. When you smoked and I was trapped In my failure to make you healthy. Yes, I know you understand. But didn’t you always complain I was just too darned independent? Of you, I think you meant. Being lost can look like independence – The wandering off to visit Chaos in one’s mind, That treasure chest of no understandings. Yes, I should have come to you, My uncrowned guru. I did, you know I did…often. But when you were sick, I had to be independent... Of my sorrow. Am I still independent, you ask? Not when I see couples – Young and old, while I’m Only half what I was, So dependent still…on you. When they frown and ignore each other, I want to scream at them: “Say what you must!” So here I sit, saying what I must. Can you hear me? Are you too independent?