(note: a sestina repeats the last word of every line in each stanza. these words alternate order within the stanza, but must stay the same within some rules. however, this is not completely a sestina because sestinas call for six lines within the stanza and i used only four)
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In the library (where books are shields) a lone
figure observes the quietly buzzing scene
Women who are afraid? Solemn…sly
Their conversations are like feathers

Each gentle tickle of thought, a feather
floating; an “unimportant” burst of lonely
inspiration reaching for reciprocation or a cyn-
ical comment. Teenagers and their fantastically sly

wit amuse the girl (the figure) as she sits and slyly
documents the hours, hair in her eyes like feathers
She laughs to herself, but that doesn’t change that she is alone
Though keeping her company are gestures seen and unseen

“best friends” who mime obscene
gestures at turned backs, and other slights
muttered under breath. Betrayal is a lone-
some act not to be taken as lightly as a feather

For a ton of bricks is equal to a ton of feathers
in weight. And the sweetest gesture is the smile seen
by the girl and tossed at her by a passerby, she who slyly
asked the time, hoping for slight recognition to ease the loneliness

of time. The smile lightens a heart shrouded in the dark “alone”
making her spirit brighten, and lifting her as if she were a feather,
a white feather, aglow with the light of being (perhaps) seen.
A gesture purely intentioned and not at all sarcastic or sly

Only the lonely will know the weight of a feather
Only they will see the world spinning heartlessly, slyly

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