cover (crestfallen)

cover (crestfallen)

…saying,Accept all happiness from me.

Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird

sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

e.e. cummings, “it may not always be so;and i say”

\\\

someone sang your song today

every word was perfect

her voice warm true and beautiful

but in the end of course

she was not you

\\\

you came to me in dreams

(the only thing i have of you now)

two nights in a row and then a third on the fourth night

dreams are like spontaneous fireworks

unconscious holiday celebrations

warm and sweet like coconut in a pastry

or the gradual suddenness of this inevitable

i cannot utter face or allow to slip away

\\\

[i am making things up

stitched from thin air memory and dreams]

i draw a line of ants and a dragonfly for tattoos

across the top of one foot and above an ankle

your hair is dyed red or i suppose i should say auburn

like the thing i feel inside that sounds like wish you were here

\\\

some things are not temporary

(a) embarrassment
(b) loneliness
(c) failure
(d) loss

(e) uttering into an open well: i am not the one

(f) the bells you wear on your ankles

no one except me can hear

(g) the eternal recollection

built carefully like a garden

to be viewed from a satellite

or by a civilization 10,000 years from now

[either way there will be no doubt

about this temple and loving ceremony]

\\\

caves used as tombs

require huge boulders

and the power to move them

deserted wells behind abandoned houses

lie in wait unless we take the time and care

to cover the holes we have left behind

\\\

it is fall

i am crestfallen

a heart grown heavy

bends the back

under the swell

of ever-pining

blanketed beneath

memories of song birds

\\\