Social Stigma
The flurry of incoming thoughts,
swept away his complacency,
perhaps his confidence was not all
he thought it was;
and it occurred to him,
his guile had fallen of deaf ears,
arrogance may be at the crest of their whip,
judged, sentenced and buried.
A knot appeared in his stomach,
like a gnarled knot on an aged oak,
and it expanded outwardly,
as if to mirror atrophy, and he sat their
unable to move;
as eyes suddenly caught his discomfort,
his self-assurance waned exponentially,
until, like a light-stunned rabbit, he lost all attention.
The flush in his cheeks yielded
a monumental embarrassment,
and his charms became dying embers on a fire,
as people regrouped in pointed groups of three or four,
he stood alone, attached to the floor
with sweated glue,
and thoughts now in panicked flurry,
screamed at him to escape.
One step at a time, like tentative baby steps,
he headed for the door,
and people parted, his strange gait a flag,
so odd as if in slow motion,
his body trying to be invisible, lagged,
and the point of attention once again,
as eyes nudged him off the floor
and out the door.
Judged wanting, his pure hope to be accepted,
confidence his deception clearly rejected,
he found his car and returned
to the safety of solitude,
where his cat adored him,
hardly every berated him,
and he could be who he was,
not some social puppet of compliance.
Tony DeLorger © 2018
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May he always be blessed with the knowledge he is accepted and loved by others and his self. Such a heart felt and emotive verse Tony. Take care my much loved friend.
So pleased you enjoyed it Phyllis, a different way to express in a tale of gentle souls who are so wrongly judged. Take care my friend.