I Never Told You

You came to help me. But I never told you what I needed. I just sat there feeling miserable. I felt sad for your helplessness, too. As you busied yourself tidying things up, cleaning and rearranging my kitchen because that was all you could think to do, I sat silently. What I really needed, what I really yearned for was to put my head in your lap and have you gently stroke my forehead the way my mother used to do. I never told you what I needed. I never got it. You never got the gift of giving it.