UNDER SIEGE

I tried to memorise your face
The muffled sounds outside
The ceiling branded with your crest
The incense smoking in the dark
The velvet couch
The pelts, the wine
That moment when your lips found mine
Your beating heart against my chest
A moment's peace in war's embrace...

I tried to memorise your face -
The way you looked in that one breath
When time was waiting outside
And I was waiting for the end
But I remember only eyes
That speak to me what lips cannot
They do not blame me for the hurt
But, sighing, add another notch
To the long scoreboard of our lies.


5 Feb 2001