One brief word

All I can remember is your angry voice,
That is all I hear when I try to register you in my head,
That and nothingness.

And then I wonder, have you now made your choice
Totally to exclude me from your life, as if I were dead,
Or worse, meaningless.

Is this the meaning of your silence? But then
How could you blot me out of your mind so easily, I ask,
And get angry too.

O cruel woman, what did it mean when
You spoke to me in words of love, of your love for me, I ask
Was that really true?

I cannot call, I fear rejection too much,
And as the silence grows, it is to me like a piercing sword
That keeps me in hell.

Oh why can't you see my anguish. Just a touch
Or thought would reveal that all it needs is one brief word
To make all things well.