POEM: “The Relief Thief”

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The Relief Thief

In the dark of a London night
With only the Gower Street light
Alit on your beard, glint in your eyes
I bent you soft to put you inside.

In the late of the early dawning
We finished up, without finishing
You said we made love “briefly.”
Did you just whisper something?

“I will love you when no one is looking…”

In the bright of a London morning
With the Bloomsbury gloom glowing
I moved from the bed to the couch, slowly
To lay beside you, still; searching.

In the early of the before-noon timing
Moving, touching and still dreaming
I was not thinking, only feeling and not leading.
Did your body there just do something?

“I will rob you when no one is looking…”

Digging, you bury a bone and steal.
Best keep hearts hidden: conceal!
The Relief Thief strikes a very mean deal:
Hide, block the bitch so she doesn’t seek or squeal.

Sylvie Hill (2015)

****

“They need to appear strong, to show no weakness, but inside they are exceedingly vulnerable and afraid of being hurt. Often there is a history of a broken relationship, a love disappointment. Since that time they have never permitted anyone to get too close to them emotionally. They will even avoid getting into a position where someone might get attached to them. It is not the attachment that they fear, but the outcome, which they anticipate with dread: the end of the relationship, the betrayal, the disappointment, the terrible loss, the grieving and the humiliation. In this we can fully understand the symbolic significance of the “fear of robbers” in the psychology of Nat mur. Their deepest fear is the violation and theft of their emotional trust and happiness; by constantly “looking back” and by hanging on to the past they seek to protect themselves from the present.” Source