Why Are You So Still Poem by Patrick William Kavanagh

Why are you so still,
I bleed before you just to touch your heart.
Though words pour down like blood from open veins
and just my dried and dusty husk remains
I cannot hear you weep.

Why are you so still,
I fall as artfully as any clown,
Balance baubles as I hurtle to the ground.
Hide my pain behind my painted frown,
and yet you do not laugh.

Why are you so still,
Melodies beyond compare, floating in the rank, dead air.
My voice has risen clear as any lark,
Beyond the spotlights, - silence in the dark,
As motionless you witness my despair.

Why are you so still,
I calm my fevered mind and fight my rage,
I write as skilfully as any sage,
with wisdom suited for the age,
An hour passes and you have not turned the page,

Why are you so still,
I beg you for some solace; - But still I am alone.
Deaf to all my words, and blind to all my tears,
Your cold indifference chills me to the bone,
I will not speak again

Lincolnshire
05/11/12