May I, Please? A Poem

May I, please, have a moment?

Just a second

before you interrupt?

To capture this fragment

whisping away

in my psyche

Just there,

past my thoughts

on how to walk forward

or what’s on my to-do list

May I please, just?

I gasp as words from their lips start

crowding the words

in my mind

Just, if you don’t mind,

I stutter

A hand out

palm flat outward,

a stopping signal

The one we all know in any language

Go no further.

Stop where you are.

No trespassing past here.

So rude,

they think,

and I do too.

Too harsh.

So hard.

If only…

they so want to

tell me that so important thing

And I stand,

dejected as they do

And the

words offered up

in my mind disappear

like a magical visitor, elf or fairy

Darting across tracks

as a powerful locomotive

powers through

I can’t reach you.

Where did you go?

I whisper, while listening

to my real world friend

Trying to be polite

yet inwardly

I feel such

great loss

for yet another fragment

Yet another word

gone missing

never to return.

She might come back, of course

But next time

instead of her pink flowing fairy dress

she might be wearing blue

And as she twirls in the moonlight

she will look

just a tad different

than she would have

If I could have captured her

when she was going

by another name.

This book is an excerpt from Laurie’s book Leap With Me: Finding and Following Your Creative Voice.

Photo credit: Ironika/Shutterstock