Mysteries In The Heart

mysteries in the heart


yes
you die
west of Eden

end of childhood
the realization of mortality
(how it comes with menses & erections)

then the wars with the gods
the stages of death
philosophical wrestling with angels
to redraw the map
monsters arise: vampires
(we live because others give us their life)

zombies the return of the repressed
the living dead
those memories that eat our living flesh
dread of ghosts who refuse denial

immortality analogs the ego
throws against implacable
light: eternity is death

* * *

offer smoked meats
flesh burns: all
is murder

o child
hold
me

the messiahs
all hanging dead on the tree
meat/overripe fruit/clouds/
burning stars

& the wars are over the negotiations settled
dust to dust the light races past us
to the maws of whatever pushes & pulls
from & toward the empty absence

a flag of dragons on a broken castle turret
children with their wooden swords
the dolls & tender laughing;

just so you know our condition: meanwhile,
there are faeries in the trees
& mysteries dancing in the heart

* * *

& if he carried
these ghosts
this sorrow
of what
cannot
grow

even ash

a hard lesson
the rapture
of death
a press
of red
dirt

salt

a thumb
on her
cheek
slips
into
air

clouds

as if to learn
patience—
to wait
to be
like
it

to bow;

to carry to bow to let it go:
a river of your face



Richard Lance Williams

Posted over on More Poetry