a record of a day
~m
this cool August still flowers
crisp without falling
mist hangs without rain
sleeping you hear waves
crash in place
for once or again you are changing
haze clearing cataracts
and nothing
moves
everything
happens
without warning
the turbulence is built in and you,
my love are taking shelter
in a sea
of new life city blocks
streets awake
and eyes clotted
with a good too much
you fear you can’t control anything
and i reassure you
it’s true: not even you.
you thank me in big words
and soft hands
and a push
out the door
You want to write but you don’t
read.
You want to listen but you don’t
speak.
You want to be loved but you don’t
like it.
You want to be everything but you won’t
just be.
You want to be close but you can’t
see.
You want to be good but you are
you are.
in Princeton today I am dying
trees totter in cool suits
waiting for the fall
in Princeton today more are hungry
than you’re willing to know
living in lobbies, dying
more than the rest
in Princeton today light is gray
deer know something’s different
and don’t say a word
in Princeton today I am not really dying
but the trees and the streets and the people
who make them will be
soon.