sad
the lashings of a coronation
broken in waves
like the fingers of glass
tentatively scratching
at your locked doors
wineglasses and roses
eaten
in the hollow savor of a breath
devoured slow
and opened wide to breathe
to inhale
a sacrilege of flesh

spilled apart
in this umbrella bleeding
space age secret,
dear,
an angel almost
woken up from seven years of sleep
her eyes like blank books
wide like windows to another time
slow
so long ago

and we said in the garden then,
an age ago
or only
a night's slipped window
'time passes,'
an opportunity loses its blush
to the first taste of frost
sweet orchard on the wind lost
an hour
and all-too-mortal you

my empty-handed dream
sleeping a satin sleep
I whispered softly to your aging sigh
the sustenance of why
and pearls of wisdom
wilted from your eyes
like tears of ashes
falling all a flood

you broke a feather on this ember
blew the ashes to a life
one step beyond the burning
and whispered them all back
to where the planets turning
can't be felt in earthquake attempts
to mourn a willow tree or weeping river
passing into silence
all aquiver

and this aching aeon
settling into softness
beneath the roof
a reproof of falling stars
builds a temple to art
and burns a torch for progress all the same
so who's to blame?

an eager arrival
sold it all for style
and in her two steps closer
to the bridge-walk
manic jumper's end,
wrote a song for poetry
and called it something new
a whisper just for you

my heart attack apple of the eyes bleeding
orbit
so to speak and only if you hold me
cheek to cheek and we can see
it's all come down to holding out
all so
so much less than this could come about
if only you could be
a little more blind to the shipyard
tunafish
dolphin-safe sardine world we live in
where everyone's breathing
everyone else's air
and no one's listening
because no one cares.