I
Being invited to the lady's large bed
delighted!, and overcome by possibilities
Was not unlike stumbling through the Gobi Desert,
under an orange moon
And then entering some ancient city,
not understanding a word
II
Puking over her feet, I complain
she's "cold". it is not
an idyllic scene. I say I feel
too old, to do any better,
and that this is, in fact, pretty good.
III
The galaxies receding make a sound:
Patter of dog feet on sidewalk-
So I go to
the kitchen
sink.
Perform the ritual
of washing.
I come to you
as you lie on the bed
the wet hands of a lover
used to failure
like crystal
slipping
from his grasp.
The effort
to bring together
bits of
flesh
My little star sleeps next to me,
tiny nightmares light my way.
Why she’s here it’s hard to say,
please leave tomorrow, not today.
She sees me, not as I am,
but shades of dark-pale gray.
Now I’m awake and she’s disappeared,
I know I’ll miss her for the whole day.
As soon as I’m home it’s back to bed,
she’ll be waiting within my walls of red.
And then I drift off to my sweet,
it’s only in my dreams we ever meet.
I don’t want to get up and out of bed,
no good reason comes to my liquid head.
Yes there’s some food and water too,
and of course the required trip to the loo.
It feels like a light heavy weight,
right inside my aching empty chest.
I guess I’ll just have to again wait,
to be down and out with the rest.
That’s really not much of an issue,
because it’s something i’m used to.
Just be glad it only happens me,
it’s much easier to look but not see.
I thought it
was you
turning in bed—listening
I know
it is just the rain, heavier.
First I’ve heard
in a long time—
breathe deep.
I rest easier.
Happily.
Floods?
I doubt it,
if so
we'll cope later,
in due time.
Stretching from your nipple
to infinity,
planets orbit the heavens.
Like a planetarium
above the bed the skylight
frames the reality of you
lying naked, now
and starlight hurling
the past against walled shadows.
Searching sky's dark well
we lie together
waiting for the future.
Hollows map
your body
gone.
My body drinks
your fading
warmth.
Your ghost
is mute.
I smoke.
A touch,
did I feel
a touch
of a wrapping
thigh?
Silence deepens.
I sleep.
I am what is around me.
Women understand this.
One is not duchess
A hundred yards from a carriage.
These, then are portraits:
A black vestibule;
A high bed sheltered by curtains.
These are merely instances.
I CAME to the crowded Inn of Earth,
And called for a cup of wine,
But the Host went by with averted eye
From a thirst as keen as mine.
Then I sat down with weariness
And asked a bit of bread,
But the Host went by with averted eye
And never a word he said.
While always from the outer night
The waiting souls came in
With stifled cries of sharp surprise
At all the light and din.
"Then give me a bed to sleep," I said,
"For midnight comes apace"--
But the Host went by with averted eye
And I never saw his face.
My Babbles has a nasty knack
Of keeping monkeys on her back.
A great big black one comes and swings
Right on her sash or pinny strings.
It is a horrid thing and wild
And makes her such a naughty child.
She comes and stands beside my chair
With almost an offended air
And says:--“Oh, Father, why can’t I?”
And stamps her foot and starts to cry--
I look at Mother in dismay ...
What little girl is this, to-day?
She throws about her nicest toys
And makes a truly dreadful noise
Till Mother rises from her place
With quite a Sunday churchy face
Love! Love! Your tenderness,
Your beautiful, watchful ways
Grasp me, fold me, cover me;
I lie in a kind of daze,
Neither asleep nor yet awake,
Neither a bud nor flower.
Brings to-morrow
Joy or sorrow,
The black or the golden hour?
Love! Love! You pity me so!
Chide me, scold me--cry,
“Submit--submit! You must not fight!”
What may I do, then? Die?
But, oh, my horror of quiet beds!
How can I longer stay!
“One to be ready,
The light was burning very dim,
The little blaze was brown and red,
And I waked just in time to see
A panther going under the bed.
I saw him crowd his body down
To make it fit the little space.
I saw the streaks along his back,
And bloody bubbles on his face.
Long marks of light came out of my eyes
And went into the lamp--and there
Was Something waiting in the room--
I saw it sitting on a chair.
Its only eye was shining red,
Its face was very long and gray,
Its two bent teeth were sticking out,
And all its jaw was torn away.