As burdensome as shyness is
Could anyone afflicted say
It has not saved at least one life? --   

At least for those who’ve lost a life
Once tethered to, a hers or his…
Anyone, if pressed, who’d say

They’ve lost the only one they’d say
They loved, who just by sharing their life
Emboldened them…whose shyness is

(They’d say it is) the way of life.

Jerl Surratt was born in Electra, Texas and lives in New York City.  His poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Literary Imagination and other publications.  He is now at work completing his first poetry collection.