How long have you been under there?
You snuck away from the garish light
Until everyone simply forgot your fate.
You have hidden too long behind your carved and painted screens--
I've been forced to avoid your muffled cries.

Come back; join the traffic of human expression.
Life is a loaded gun, with fragile triggers.
Point it at me, brothers, friends, God.
Remember He holds you in His fist.
Let Him carry your baggage into the ignored light.

Don't let your fear morph into solitude.
Stretch your spine from its huddled prophecy
And learn from the grass--
Nature's built-in mattress.

Just let me see your face.