Each time I put them away
In some silent corner of my being
Locked away 
So they don’t rear 
Their grief-gorged heads
When it’s not their time
Nor their day

And then you begin 
A conversation
Those things I’ve been meaning to say
Rattle the locks that hold them at bay
I let them out
They race for my heart
My eyes smart

They scratch their way
To my mouth
I let them out
Hesitating with every one 
That escapes 
Wrapping itself around your shoulders
In a hug, a tortured embrace

Waiting for you 
To look at them, feel their grain
Their pain, hear their refrain
They float around waiting for you
You turn away
Their ragged breaths
Steam up the pane

They quiver 
In a final thrum of hope
Fallen, on the ground they grope
For a sliver of faith
But you turn away
Unhearing, unseeing
They disintegrate
Into nothingness around your feet.