"Invasion of a Smile"
Slight touches
Ripple your skin--
Agitate your psyche--
As if your bubble
Has been penetrated--
Invaded--
A singular world--
Where all the people
Persisting around you
Are only images--
Self-created dreams
To keep you company.

You enjoy your
headphones and CDs--
The way each note
Becomes easily
Predictable--
The way you can
Block out the voices--
Selfish and odd.

You enjoy your books--
The words talk
Among each other--
Never involving you--
Never changing--
Those images are
So bothersome--
The way they invade
Without warning.

Yet you crave
The possibility
Of their touch--
Beautiful in its
Unpredictability--
Until the invasion
Of a smile
Sends you back
Into your head--
Freedom--
Freedom--
Freedom.

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