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I would have laughed before
at the thousand love songs of the world
at the sticky-sweet love poems
written for only one (but
shared with the world)
at the heart-warming lovers' scenes
in the Hollywood movies.
I would have laughed before, my love,
but now I know they are true.
You have turned my bitter cynicism
into joyous belief (and
fearful disbelief)
in the rapturous state of love.
To say "I love you" is so dreadfully cliche,
the hollow words have lost their meaning
and potency from overuse.
But!
To hear you say it--
my heart swells into my throat,
a silly grin sneaks across my face,
a tear of amazement blossoms in my eye,
for it is so beautiful.
And what is better?
I know that you mean it.
Oh! If only
the world forgave you as I have,
if only they saw
behind your mask hides a little boy
cowering in fear at the cruel world.
Life has not been kind to you, my dear,
and I want to hold you in my arms
and soak up all your sorrows.
Why are you afraid to cry?
You know you can tell me anything
and I will love you even more,
even if you tell me that
you only love me for sex,
like everyone else thinks.
You broke my heart when you said
"I wish you could have met my father.
He would have loved you as much as I do."
You tore me apart.
Life is not fair, my dear!
Life is not fair
and you deserve better.
Maybe when you said that,
your father looked down from heaven
or up from hell
and smiled.
I will think that, anyway.
My heart breaks for you, my sweet.
You are alone in the world
and I am standing in front of you,
trying to keep the wind from knocking you down
trying to keep the train from crushing you
trying to keep the rain away
all in vain.
I want to love you and I want you to love me
but we are so broken!
And I only wish that I were like Catullus,
that I could value the rumors of old men at a penny
but I cannot! I cannot!
I cannot bear the quietly disdainful eye of my father,
I cannot be your mother and your lover,
I cannot defend you all the time.
I want, so desperately, to love you.
I will try
but I will fail.
i think that people like to read about the happenings of people, and that is why this.
the small sphere of golden light around me, so familiar. the slender laptop, so graceful. it reminds me of peering over shoulders on airplanes: the screen savers, the laptop backgrounds, all the personal accouterments, fantastic sprays and swirls as their music plays through earphones. sealed.
but here, this is my space. wooden desk. the flanking shelves severely rising. disorder - always. papers and a teacup. the bluegreen glass mug, fogged as seaglass, that i drink wine in.
i am thinking of theater, of my friend. of the straightforward sexuality of her friends. she performs. huge and little at the same time, she bears her firm small frame with enormity. with hilarity. pursed red lips she wore, a flouncing french maid's duds. we hung out at the bar. a palpable body, a physical presence. that's what the room was. i could have had my hands on everyone.
now - the room, expanding from a small round golden sphere - my solitude, that solitude of the human condition, irrevocable. the warm physical things that accompany it. a chair. a carpet. such simple things.
so this is my evening, to share with you - simplicity, a small room with a table and a potted plant, flowered - a friend living with us while she perform for two months, talking on her phone to her husband in her bedroom, the tones soft as low thunder. a balcony overlooking the city.
that is this.
i can't see the way in the dimness.
how the wind strikes up: the band
struggles in a moment with just noise,
then settles on a howl. Insistent
burr unending, vibrates through the heart.
the wind eats my hair. a fugitive damp
begins. light scatters. all is clear.
then a murmur: a clap: imprinted
is I. stopped by a sound. stunned.
thunder is the way the world goes:
never in the moment of the light
but trembling away and out, and fading.