oh? are you still there? standing against the willow sweep
you are beautiful and delicate and so devastatingly human.
why? why have you come here? don’t you know that this air
is poison for your little glass lungs and fluttering hummingbird
heart? how young you stand among the deep creases of the old
trees, how they cup and frame your face as if to steal some of
that innocence for themselves, greedy and mournful, bound
by righteousness. you will be safe here, but not forever. and thus,
in the light of this revelation, perhaps you should go. like
golden wheat that sways in the wind, sun’s rays braided into
crackling whips that both sting and are gentle against the ankles
of mankind. if i was not so wretched in touch perhaps i would
have kept you, a canary on my shoulder. i would take you around
the world which you do not yet know, but the world is too wild
for a tame thing like you. how sorry i am for us to cross paths once
and never again.
hello? call my name like a lark and i will come to you like the
worst of sinners. i don’t believe in salvation but if i did it would have
clear eyes like you, voice soft as a crane’s wing and pure as a mellow
lake. a smattering of geese take off from the ground and spill their
white, white feathers upon your bristly crown, adorning your head.
crouched upon the branches, knee-deep in creek reeds, are you not
afraid, then, of the locusts and fish that linger in the water? are you
blind to this pain that nips your toes and leaves welts on sweet skin?
are you a fool to come here, and lend your breath to the wind that
really does not need it, and all the creatures who really do not deserve
such kindness? in my age i have seen many things and witness countless
wonders. my journey has brought me across the sky. i have touched
both ends of the horizon with gold-tipped fingers and swallowed mouthful
after mouthful of silky sand until it spilled out of my ribs that hold
nothing. inside your chest i can see a warm soul pulsing with life, yet i
have nothing. no soul to reflect yours, no mirror to match your kind gaze
and so why are you here? what do you seek? i would give you everything
except myself. it is not worth it to gift you a damned being.