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Goodbye (Free verse) by Nicholas Jones
I must make clear
that I can only offer you
words that will not help -
I have no capacity for action
and deplore all unncessary movement
I see people in the street
who are afraid of stillness
and I pity their hectic lives
you must have known
I never loved you
but that for a time it pleased me
to pretend that I did
George III was described
as the mollusc king
who never found his rock
he was mad and misplaced America
but in all situations
I can always find a niche
and keep my dreams within it -
to stray away is suicide,
if I am undefended, the snipers
will need only minutes
to pick me off
so I prefer not to leave
my attic room
I have to first
protect myself
behind the walls
where all, normally, is safe
and this choice renders you superfluous
you bring dangerous passions into my ordered life
and this undermines the rigour
with which I choose to order my domain
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