When Stephen Said No

When Stephen Said No

You heard the sob of a chapter slamming shut
and said nothing, simply sat there
while shattered visions surrendered
at your feet, pleading
"Please-a touch, a word, a whisper-
anything could save her..."
You managed to wriggle out of reach,
refused to serve as their saviour
by escaping to the security
of John Wayne's squint.
You slipped inside another Western
to squaw and saddle the afternoon away;
a few breaths over, I clutched
an increasingly-puddled life preserver pillow
in the endless rage
of ocean spread across three inches,
and paperthin walls.