From poetry collection "now you tell me" (c) 1997 by Gracie C. McKeever

(c) 1994 by Gracie C. McKeever

In the wings and shadows, stealthy
aggrandizement and self-promotion
an effusive wealth of kindness and
patience
your flattery knew no bounds

Perhaps this magnanimity
should have been my fist clue

Months and years flew by a whirl
and flutter of fraternizing and growth
years, a blur of needed self-discovery

Evolution – buddies to pals
companions to friends –
a relationship doomed to extinction

You buried your hidden agenda
beneath a well of wish-fulfillment
My own was entrenched in a ditch
of ignorance and denial

As Helen Keller I danced through
the phases of our affiliation
unencumbered by guilt, oblivious
to your needs and desires
unaware as I stumbled and tramped
upon the soil of emotional mine
fields

Fortitude and tolerance waned
floated away on an ebb tide of
frustration and unrealized hope
and promise

Exploitation and self-indulgence
the foundation upon which we built
the shell

Destruction and release a forgone
and welcome conclusion