december 7 2009

i walked down a familiar street
and on the doors i once knew
the same numbers stared back at me
though the doors themselves had changed
and the walls once blue and brick and red
were now a different hue
i didn't think such things could last
back then i didn't care and my love
could last the time it took to kiss
between bites of an ice cream sandwich
i was persistent as stepped on gum
on a hot summer day
and i stuck around like ancient tattoos
obvious but impossible to decipher
until you made them dance
everywhere the buildings are the same
when seen from the windows of my car
as if i could walk the way i once
did with my chest laid bare
and the sun's blade cut me to the bone
and i longed for such mysteries
as moan deep beyond the gulls and
the gorge hissed and broken over
rocks nicked and cobbled under
reed and river grass sung out
like the frozen scream of stars
as they expire in the pitch black
of wilderness midnight
tamely i lay back and die
in my reclining car seat
asking the Almighty for a
heart to feel such melancholy
joy again