Excerpt
Jealousy

I

Things can get lonely
in an ivory tower,
watching the world
go by instead of
doing...

hearing the laughter
of children
in the streets below
and knowing no
songs within the
confines of your
soul....

So when your father
came calling—
a thief in the night—
I gave him what
he came for,
and he gave me
the sun.


II

Things can get lonely,
but that was why
I kept you there—
to shelter you
from reality—
and to ease my own
despair.

III

Sixteen...
a hard age
for a pretty girl.
Emotions come knocking
for the first time
and you wonder
if you should
let them in...
should they climb
the ladder to your
bower?
or should you
bar the door
and cower
in terror?

IV

The love I could have
forgiven—
looked the other way
when the silky ladder fell...
given you a chance
to decide for
yourself which
path you'd
someday choose—
but the thought that
you would leave me—
that was too much to
bear.

If your prince had
been a gentleman,
we could have
shared your beauty...
but now we both
have lost sight
of it.