haibun || Sheila E. Murphy

Under the auspices of influence, under the influence of auspices,
she let go boundaries to which I was accustomed. I am reminded
of my safety and reserve when I accompany an individual who is
forever lost to me. Because I am, and have been, comfortable is
not a sentence. She was not at peace, and she is gone. I promise you
I would not change a thing I did not do. I listened and I told her
she had nothing she should fear. Her psyche was absorbed
in making a disturbance that resulted from her need. I slept a long
time and escaped into the night. I knew that there were no activities
I wanted beyond solitude. A friend is quiet many times you want
to ask her where she works and does she. I then heard a thousand
words include repeated words. I warmed the sound, was reminded
of a music they would subsequently be. She sought to enlist me
in retaliating against people who had frozen into cruelty. How fluid
she was not, how innocent she feigned to be. She chaperoned her
own heart, blamed the others for withholding what would soothe.
Her warm face and modest colored hair. I looked back without feeling.
Often I am there. She mentioned generosity attributed to me.

A watch unwound, a wounding, defense de fumer, change, likeness
and tone

Sheila E. Murphy