The love is so intense it consumes you
You breathe it, you bathe in it.
Sometimes it’s excruciating, you stay with it anyway.

Until, with out warning, something changes, in you.
One day, there’s one word, or one phrase
A wall appears between you.

You didn’t build it.
You didn’t even particularly want it there.
But it’s there.

You can’t take it down.
Something just stops you,
From taking out that first brick.

You know if you take out one brick
The entire weight of the wall
Will come down on you and crush you.

The weight of a wall built in secret
One row of bricks at a time, under your nose
You’ve been peering over it.

You didn’t even know.
Until it obscures your vision.
Suddenly you can’t see over it anymore

Or through it. Or around it.
You know what’s on the other side
And all you can do is walk away.

By Deborah E. Dayen