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i try to cripple your strength
by talking circles around you --
talking with my pen
(as my vocal cords cannot compete
with the muscles in my fingers
and those in my mind).

despite my strength of mind and digits,
i cannot confine you to a space.
most days i feel that this intangible fence
has fooled me into ignoring you
just long enough for you
to escape through the barbs
and just long enough for me
to stop caring so much.

but other days,
when noise is insufficient to shut out
the incessant emptiness,
i hear you again.
i know it's not truly you --
just my imagined you --
even so, i am transported
to a place where you are central
and i cannot stop wondering
who you really are
and why you had to leave.