Again the shepherd in solitude crosses the deformed desert his spiny head & floating ribs swaddled in robes what if the King is dead what if the Queen is sexually reticent & someone has said to their child -- shut up, you look stupid talking by now we are many hours into the night deleriously happy between the two points of a journey -- I say it -- love you so is it now we feed the mythical bird earthly beauty a thing one never gets to do twice like a first kiss eternally green those red hills I climb how poor I am how thirsty & small the pipeline through the desert a rip in my face delta-winged plowshares begin a reclamation then the worst -- God is fanged shitless while each waits a turn to drink since we deal with life the potion I-forget-you I-kill-you etc. don't laugh at my timidity from scum there's caustic soda there's chlorine there's copper there's a little girl peeing everyone believes she's the beloved a face with a large forehead cracked nose & stretch of sand thousands of wells two miles deep & pipeline centuries long uranium lead salt dredged like a forced smile then the worst -- saying to a child shut your mouth, you look dumb -- until now I had not lost the bright colors & immodest homes of my youth I care not for images I miss you all the world's eternally green & I ask what if I die without your love my rattlesnake my restlessness what if I'm buried thinking of you holding your eyes with mine then the worst -- you're beaten up by now we are many hours into the night pennants of gas fires brighten the skies then the worst -- dark stupid voices raised painted voices -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DISPUTE OF THE HEART AND BODY OF FRANCOIS VILLON by FRANCOIS VILLON BLIZZARD by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS TO A YOUNG BEAUTY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE RIVULET by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO MARY IN HEAVEN by ROBERT BURNS O SLEEP, MY BABE! by SARA COLERIDGE FIVE SOULS by WILLIAM NORMAN EWER |