In the Shadow of Men

you can try all you can
to squeeze into
the gaze
of her interestedness
to leave
the shadows
cast
by
the walls that keep her safe,
to be seen

found in the light.

and if you do
there may be tears
and an old look in her
temporarily unglazed eyes
as if she were
remembering
nostalgically
her buried desires
for a life
that she could claim as her own

not puppeted by the men
in whose shadow
she often found herself
lost
and
obsolete
and
unheard