Quiet,
A simple candle
The monotone ivory of day
You remind me of a goldfish
Feet sinking into the moss,
Preponderance of youth--
The repitition...
The profane...
Plants slide across the surface
Like last night's lace
Ripped off an encumbered body
And discarded like a feather.
The trees, the water
The thick smell "After the Rain,"
Melt into an ecclectic melody
That orchestrates my life,
But now all I hear is silence.
I've spent the last penny
In the kitchen canister
And all the points I've accumulated
Buy nothing at all...
But time
Kept close to my heart
In a tattered flannel pocket
And I dream of euthenasia,
Not immortality,
To hold me close to the gods...
In a cramped corner
Chases away
The purple shadow...
but the silence remains.
Bumbling, inebriated,
Stumbling to the outhouse
Through the bitter cold
With one thought on his mind...
the concubine.
Stumbling back,
Confusing love lost with hunger,
His cupboards reveal only a cucumber,
His drawers-- one blunt knife...
but he wishes for nothing more.
The blunt knife draws a line,
White then deep red,
And there is no pain
Besides the lingering hollow ache...
Without her, he is dead.
Becomes the riotous crimson of night--
Braided, jagged, juxtaposed--
Tourniquet binds my life
As a mockingbird cries "facade!"
Snaggletoothed man on the corner
Sneers at my little life
As I bounce from face to face
Without stopping to notice his
Or hear his puce or burgandy story.
What truth do I see in a rainbow
Behind my rose or ebony lenses?
In a cardboard box--
I try to hold you,
Keep you warm in my love,
Stretch out a finger
To touch you,
But I leave you in the dark,
Always refilling your life
As it leaks out the seams--
You're always on the cusp of death
And I don't mind...
It gives me something to worry about
Besides war and politics
And the melting of the icecaps.
I'm sad when I see you,
A shadow in a box,
But I know that you love me--
Love my warm touch,
And that's enough for me.
