Back Next The Hammer

She this demon
Demands so much from me
Her main cry
Seeks itself
Upon the face of others
She insists to be
Seen in everyone's
Mirrored face
And she would have me
Break everyone's
Mirrored face
To find her somewhere else
And then she would again
Turn that face
Into a disfigurement of anguish
Telling me how right I was
To see behind
That smile
Of that apparent compassion
And then she would give me the hammer
To smash another friendship.

Irwin R. Shaw - April 28th 1983