shy women you and i shy from knowing too well every time as though it were mine the bitterness that you hide so well i say nothing at all thinking of your pride and i tell you that you look well and you roll your eyes and laugh and we sit down together by the window talking about the weather i should have told you you looked so alive elegant in the low sunlight shoulders wide as though in readiness to fight something you never even touch never ask for too much no you can get by on almost nothing you and i forever bluffing and ever so kind shy women shy ice on the trees since new year s eve coming down in white sheets all white power lines swaying high and heavy you were staring out your eyes real straight like nothing touches you these days it seemed to me luxury would be to be not so ashamed not to look away even this heaviness deserved no less than to always confess every false smile to every loneliness theres a design that we witness you and i shy women shy