Sorrow used to come at me
With a sharp drawn in its hand
And stab and swing and sever
And I was naught to understand.
Then it knocked upon my door,
But I scarce would let it in
Until it crept off in the dark
It’s blade to whet again.
Now we meet as strangers,
Who recognize the other’s face
But can’t remember if in a dream,
Or in this wicked place
We once fought as enemies
Dealing mortal blows;
Sorrow’s, to teach me misery,
And mine, to cease to know.
Grounded,
And it would be so sweet,
But for your final resting place
Tossed somewhere far from me.
Grounded,
And the dirt that is my keep,
Would sit so soft upon my skin,
If we could share this sleep.
From the miles,
Across the sea
Of asphalt and tire
And melancholy memory
I remember you;
Nights we grieved,
And laughed, and hoped,
And, as one, believed.
A smooth lake, like glass,
Spread my firm skin
No driftwood jutting,
Nor cut by wind,
Just unbroken surface;
Golden, superb,
And the mirror reflection
Lay undisturbed.
Time cut headway
Across my brow.
The ivory wake
Spills from the prow
And ripples out
Along the shore;
The wake unstoppable,
The vessel unmoored,
The tide receding evermore.
I thought of you today,
The old times, the way
You steeped in frustration
At my many limitations.
If you cared, I wasn’t sure,
But I knew you’d need more
So bothered by my lack,
The unseemly attacks
You refused to see.
In some ways you punished me
For who I couldn’t be.
I’ve thought of you recently
Conducting yourself so decently
While I lived on the fringe.
I must have been unhinged
To fall in love with you.
A girl like me would never do,
Never blend into your world.
I wore my sins, my flag unfurled,
Against the backdrop of your pedigree.
I was your purgatory.
You were my paradise.
viewingcamelot 