This Woolen Coat
 -----------------

 Perhaps this woolen coat absorbed her pain,
 and if I put it on, her sorrows rain 
 upon my shoulders and my mind, to show
 her secret woes, or maybe let me know 

 her tragic soul? Such vicarious strife
 is lighter got than fully living life.
 A person such as I, who stands aside
 to watch the grand parade and does not ride

 the hurly-burly float of passion's rite,
 can never truly know the dizzy flight 
 of joy, the somber pit despair can fill.
 My trills are soft, my moans are fainter still.

 So if I wear her coat, her fears, her loves
 her tears may wrap my stolid heart with gloves
 I'd hold but never wear, with books as bold
 as I am cold. I'd feel her pain unfold. 

 10/13/93