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We bear the same initials, T. S. E. And so I thought we must be kindred souls I thought the words we’d bring the world to see Might mark the heights of reaching lofty goals But words are as directionless as thought If thoughts become our words, the world is lost Cacophony is music that we bought Before we knew, poetically, the cost These half deserted streets are mine alone “What is it?” was the thought I thought to speak But poetry is that to which I’m prone Poetic circus needs poetic freak The mermaid cunts were singing, each to each And I was hungry, so I ate a peach.
Importantly you turn to face the thing The thing that mocks your pain with gilded rage It knows the words to every song you sing Regardless of the way you flaunt your age As young as any seed before it sprouts As old as any wisdom in that seed It knows the grief of all its ins and outs It feels the callous charms of every need Wait, wait. Go back. Go back to quatrain one Lets talk of gilded rage and songs once more A volta doesn’t mean a sonnet’s done It only means that after comes before Before the end of poetry we sell The words that find their way to some new hell.
We wait for words like forests wait for trees And when we’ve waited long enough, we speak As quietly as honey waits for bees A metaphoric jar will crack and leak Our sense of equilibrium is spilled In sticky puddles on a shiny floor In time the time we sense can yet be killed If killing time is what your words are for Be quick if you must wait for words to pass Be more than less, unless you’re anymore Be anyone you want; be polished glass Regardless, you can shatter on my floor If love becomes a word that you must hate Your words will grow as forested I wait.