I Am a Special Kind of Coward

I am a special kind of coward

I have all the warm and soft bits
the bits that sing the songs,
and hug and kiss and love
and laugh laugh laugh
and do all the joyful dancing

and I have the wet and weighty bits
the bits that cry the tears
and hope and hurt and dream
and bleed bleed bleed
and do all the heavy longing

but I lack the nut-and-bolty bits
the bits that pay the bills
or earn or plan or save
or 8 to 5 to 8 to 5 to 8 to 5
or do all the busy marching

and here is where the fear begins
"the marching"
like maybe I'm just half a man
like all the juicy fleshy parts
but none of the skeleton

which is why I say I'm spineless

- J. S. Guy