misunderstanding

There has been a misunderstanding.

When you said you were my
cellmate
I thought you said
soulmate.

I felt bound by a silken cord
woven with soft hands
and never imagined
the pain of steel cuffs.

Alone together in this
cold cinderblock room
there is no escape
And you do not speak.

I feel the tug of your weight
when I pull away.
I think myself
mad.

You are not there
I see only a shadow
of the man I remember.

Searching fingertips reach toward
your nebulous shape
and touch nothing.

There has been a misunderstanding.

When I pled guilty
I thought the charge was
felonious love,
my crime noble.

And you a willing co-conspirator.

Are you innocent of this
grave infraction?
Is that why
you sit in silence?

Are you wrongly charged?
Waiting for release?
Or are you a masked jailer
with a hidden key?

There has been a misunderstanding.

I wither in this place
with no air and black bars
until I too am a
shadow.

Amorphous now,
my wrist slips through steel cuff
and between black bars.
Will you speak now?

And will I understand?