Image credit: Eric Isselee
The lesser bite
Of a stranger’s rejection
Still stings
Perhaps on its own
It would never cause
Such pain
But it seems it comes
In groups, as do
These things
So the cut though slight
Seems somehow deep
Again
A day ago
The news caught me
So unaware
Though the messenger
Would never know
This link
Just some months ago
I was left adrift
Standing there
Now today again
This sense of loss
Upon the brink
This lesser bite
Is deceptively
So soft
But if just the first
Of a many-sided
Ground attack
All these dreams that I
In my innocence
Held aloft
May be eaten yet
One by one and won’t
Come back
(c) Helen Valentina 2015, All Rights Reserved
helenvalentina 
Sharply felt, sharply told. The elusive connections that chain link.
Thanks Philippa!! 🙂 🙂
Might the lesser bite sting more acutely because it is safer to taste the immediate and casual pain inflicted by a stranger, than from a closer more purposeful source?
Could very well be, thanks so much!! 🙂
‘Tis beautifully written.
You do so much for so many. Thank you.