boundaries

I expect perfection of myself 

but forgive so much of others.  

Some say they feel complete 

when someone else is so impacted by their existence 

that the absence is irrevocable, 

unrecoverable.  

In my isolation and fear 

of old scars being reopened, 

am I ever assigned to failure as a human being?  

Am I too frigid to ever be warmed 

with the lick of flames again?

Where is that thin line

between personal and partnership growth,

alone or side-by-side?

Lost in the struggle, I sleep uneasily,

dreaming of togetherness

without fear of boundaries.