even the smiling face of a stranger
opens my sadness
opens the breath of my pain

from my lips
smiling in return
opens my voice
the vulnerable passage
to the secret place
of my heart
the hidden wound
around which i wind
winding stories
winding thoughts
winding consolation
those ravels
unravel to the smile
of a stranger
an unraveling thread
whose deepest point
imbeds itself in the
emptiness of my soul

my heart quickens
pulsing
pulsating
frightening and trembling
with the traveling thread
urging
my heart surges
and in the flow
heaves the womb
most secret place
most holy place
in a tidal flood
that leaves you
swimming
drowning
gasping
your smile widening
surfacing
grotesque
in a desperate
plea for air
my flood joins
the flood of
your own suffocating tears
in an arrested scream
my hands open
but i cannot help
as the flood
pulls you away

i am left to sit
with my open hands
my open womb
my open heart
my open mouth
my open sadness