love and death ...
the next-door neighbour
an ancient woman
who always lingered by your front door
said they'd left your body
out on the lawn
out by the flower bed
where you tended red petunias
through the hot summer
and i knew in an instant
that you were
probably dead
probably naked
with your skin wet
from the evening dew
and glistening
in the moonlight
(but i only imagined that)
when someone slipped
handcuffs on my wrists
i couldn't help
but remember
how you would handcuff me
to the bedposts
stand over me with a smile
of disdain
and do the funky chicken
above me
your wings always flapping
even though you
never took flight
but those were younger days
and you promised me
that love
was invincible
and that a life together
could never be divided
into two
(i didn't imagine that)
you called it eroticism
and at first
i didn't mind
even when you chastised me
for choosing "Harder"
as a safe word
i didn't mind all the foreplay
even as i longed for
an overture
of sorts
a crash of cymbals
something to bring forth
the flood
that would consume the moment
with a kind of
jubilant finale
i wanted that something
that would heighten perception
since it was you who insisted
perception is all
(i imagined you might be right)
they asked me
over and over again
if i held you in my arms
while i waited for you to die
and i confessed
i did not think
you were dying at all
just playing out
some kind of Biblical drama
you said would be sexy
and yes i knew my part as Abraham
even as you became my Isaac
and i swear i waited
and waited
for God to come
and intervene
but He never did come at all
and so i wonder now
if God is real
i wonder why He would allow
the blade of sacrifice
to find its mark
so deep into your heart
in what was obviously
the marriage
of love and death
(i never imagined i could imagine that)
an ancient woman
who always lingered by your front door
said they'd left your body
out on the lawn
out by the flower bed
where you tended red petunias
through the hot summer
and i knew in an instant
that you were
probably dead
probably naked
with your skin wet
from the evening dew
and glistening
in the moonlight
(but i only imagined that)
when someone slipped
handcuffs on my wrists
i couldn't help
but remember
how you would handcuff me
to the bedposts
stand over me with a smile
of disdain
and do the funky chicken
above me
your wings always flapping
even though you
never took flight
but those were younger days
and you promised me
that love
was invincible
and that a life together
could never be divided
into two
(i didn't imagine that)
you called it eroticism
and at first
i didn't mind
even when you chastised me
for choosing "Harder"
as a safe word
i didn't mind all the foreplay
even as i longed for
an overture
of sorts
a crash of cymbals
something to bring forth
the flood
that would consume the moment
with a kind of
jubilant finale
i wanted that something
that would heighten perception
since it was you who insisted
perception is all
(i imagined you might be right)
they asked me
over and over again
if i held you in my arms
while i waited for you to die
and i confessed
i did not think
you were dying at all
just playing out
some kind of Biblical drama
you said would be sexy
and yes i knew my part as Abraham
even as you became my Isaac
and i swear i waited
and waited
for God to come
and intervene
but He never did come at all
and so i wonder now
if God is real
i wonder why He would allow
the blade of sacrifice
to find its mark
so deep into your heart
in what was obviously
the marriage
of love and death
(i never imagined i could imagine that)
