Remonstrance

I dance with the ashes of a friend
I embrace a lover made of smoke
I keep a grain of sand from becoming a pearl

I plant a flower with my fist
And watch the bruised ground
Blossom with tumors and lust

And I wonder why I never visit the garden

My eyes have gone opaque
From staring at this oddity
Although my chest is sparkling like crystal

You can see my heart covered in blisters
Pink and red cobblestone
That strange women walk across

I can hear their heels falling hard
Upon the stone
Approaching and leaving and laughing

Although the view is less than perfect
Up here, in the window of the mind

I know they hear my window open
As surely as they hear me shout
Shooing them like children
or rats upon my porch

Here in this castle as unprotected
As the beach beneath the waves
I raise my arms in protest
Pale, bloodless vines searching for light

But without the weightlessness of hope
They fall like streamers celebrating defeat

I am a book without a spine
Blowing naked in a storm
My pages like leaves
Following the wind like soldiers and fools

I dance with the ashes of a friend
I embrace a lover made of smoke
I keep a grain of sand from becoming a pearl