Why Won't the Dead Sleep?

I sleep in sadness;

Or else sadness weeps

Weary and diffident,

Around the world, entangled

In morose grey deeps.

Sad in your gladness,

That I can't participate;

In torpors I circumnavigate

The whirling ocean, gravitate-

Would wish that I could burn.

Wish, to feel anything at all:

That love had me in thrall,

Or hatred made a mess 

Of my well ordered senses;

Life: this just is.

Bite me or kiss me,

Wake me up; enlist me,

My dreams grown fainter than a wisp

Nearly drowned in status quo,

When all I wanted, to flame or glow.

There's no time

As life grows taller 

Than a winter shadow,

And strangles your words:

Where did glad go?

I chase myself around a corner,

Find no one's waiting there,

For no one to grasp hold;

There's a vacancy inside me

It's colder than cold.

Hell's a moderate place, at best

Everyone's happy and soooo well-fed;

Watching endless hours, of a tv show:

Please set me on fire-

Don't kill me slow.

Without Proximity

Humans think the whole earth                                              
Should subjugate itself beneath their feet;
Even their religions cry out
That they are meant to dominate this world;
Animal life hides at their approach;
Even their smell is unusual,
Camouflaged by many substances
That they put upon the body;
Godlike, they annoint themselves
With the essence of flowers,
And animal secretions  which waft into the air
From their body's censors-
And what other animal can kill or maim,
Without proximity?

Sleep Soundly Curse

There are thoughts I'd not allow to think, of you;

Though they carry you off in your sleep some night;

These words I shall not write down of you:

Asleep in my past, where you have no right.

They'll carry you off in your sleep, some night;

Beware, beware, for the time is late,

Sound asleep in the past, where you've no right,

An interloper seals his certain fate.

Beware, beware, for the time is late,

And you will die, inside those walls,

An interloper seals his certain fate;

Sleep soundly: till the anvil falls.

And you will die, inside those walls;

The ghosts of my loved ones number your breaths,

So sleep soundly, till that anvil falls;

For every nightmare's a new little death.

The ghosts of my loved ones number your breaths;

Though there are thoughts I'd not think of you,

And every nightmare's a new little death-

Though I'll write nothing down, of you.

Death is a Dark Tune

Death is a dark tune
That arrives on a dark day
When nothing is going your way
And the storms break through
Your perfectly arranged world
Rattle your windows,
And chill you to the bone.

If you should come suddenly
There won't be hot tea brewing
Or clean towels laid out just for you
I might be in the middle
Of a lengthly novel
Forgive me if I'm brusque then
I hate interruptions.

It's nothing personal
Just give me some time
To compose myself,
Look around once more:
It may seem humble to you
But remember nobody
Has made any assurances
About what's coming next
I want to remember
How this feels.

It may be that
I could find my way
Around your dark paths
Maybe stumble a little;
But pick up again,
Go on having my predictable
Thoughts, make myself
Another cozy place, settle down
We're all just searching
For a little peace anyway,
Aren't we?
You really should
Get with me on this.

Witness

 Everything in this peculiar world                                            

Has a tendency to become 

More and more humanlike. 

Soon store dummies will be 

Needing yearly check-ups, 

And wig head stands 

Will be requiring chiropractic. 

I always had a deep distrust 

Of things that looked human, 

And pretended to be inanimate anyway. 

Why did they have to look so alive, 

If they had no warm flesh or coursing blood- 

Living beings have blood that sings 

To other living beings and it remembers 

The consciousness it nourishes. 

The flowing blood is a fingerprint; 

A time stamp of being 

That permits no perjury.

Because You Were Beautiful

Because you were beautiful

The frost formed fingerprints, on window glass

As if to touch your shoulder, when you pass;

Or write in code, your name upon the leaves

So that it shows, whenever something breathes,

Because you were beautiful

Because you were beautiful

The storm left grayish teardrops on the sill,

A keepsake of the stillness it must feel

After angry clouds have left the sky,

And the birds and wildlife breathe a sigh:

Because you were beautiful

Because you were beautiful

This heart has felt the shadow of your grace,

Wherever loveliness has left its trace;

And songs I heard beside you, on the earth

Became the stars above us, giving birth-

Because you were beautiful

Blame Me This Time

This time, to save time                                                
I'm just going to fall in love
With myself: discrete lunches
Alone at the table, with an engrossing book
Candlelight dinners and vintage wine,
Looking up at the stars,
Trying to name all the constellations-
Just me and only me;
Slow dancing in the garden
To a symphony of cicadas
Heart-shaped chocolate boxes,
With a romantic poem tucked under the ribbon
Surprising myself with flowers
And fresh-squeezed orange juice
After an all nighter
Of watching movies by myself
Secret notes slipped into my bag
To meet myself at an undisclosed place
For a romantic interlude:
I can see it's going to get complicated
But at least, I'll have only myself to blame
If things go wrong.