... (VI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFL_dJnGato&ab_channel=TheMagneticZeros

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“Our pains are, at times, but pebbles

When compared to

The mountains

That some men bear.”

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- Adele Wiseman, Crackpot [paraphrased] 

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He didn’t want to be touched;

He wouldn’t just flinch 

When she’d try, 

He’d retract;

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He’d displace his body, entire, to avoid 

The full length of her reaching gesture.

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Still, she would implore.

It was in her nature to assist -

To feel obliged, to absorb his pain,

To tactilely pull the hurt 

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From wherever it had taken root.

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He knew this about her, 

Knew her well for it -

As though her first nature

Had inadvertently become his second -

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Yet he retracted anyways.

He didn’t want to be touched …

Not then, 

Not in that moment.

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As long as she had known him -

Would know him - 

She’d never really learn why.

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