Thoughts and feelings both concealed

Teeth and tongue frequently reunited

The alternative being excess chaos

Spoken and implicit ammo uninvited

Burning fuel beneath camouflage invisible

Verbal bullets wittingly choked back

Battling the urge to ignite a hostile war

In spite of your unprovoked attack

Your open and closed hostilities rebuffed

I suffer inner conflict out of sheer respect

In favor of peaceful conditions for others

Who never detect my mental straitjacket

For the sanity of others my own is risked

The courage of shutting up a submissive act

Functioning free of gratitude or consolation

Requiring abundances of patience and tact

A numbness tingles behind unyielding lips

The art of tongue-biting paying its price

To explode instead a comfortable thought

Still the silent thought must alone suffice.