you wanted answers
there were none
you didn’t ask
you demanded
in some righteous manner
as if you deserved

you failed
to communicate
you didn’t enquire

you wondered why
i stared

it wasn’t at you

i looked beyond
disbelief
suspicion
and distrust

i’d given up
…………… on hope
there might be a sliver of a chance
that you would change

i found
my survival
was in a gaze
that never was meant
to meet eye to eye

a form of endurance
that allowed me to persist
till
i decide
to expose
what dwells under my veil

painting by Nanci France-Vas