Please Ask

Someone asked me about you today.
It's been so long since anyone has done that.

It felt so good to talk about you,
to share my memories of you,
to simply say your name out loud.

She asked me if I minded talking about
what happened to you...

Or would it be too painful to speak of it.
I told her I think of it every day.

And speaking about it helps me to release
the tormented thoughts whirling around
in my head.

She said she never realized the pain
would last this long....

She apologized for not asking sooner.
I told her, "Thanks for asking."

I don't know if it was curiosity or concern
that made her ask.
But I told her, "Please do it again
sometime....Soon."

*******
by Barbara Taylor Hudson
Obelisk, Nov. 2003