
Autograph You

I neither got to visit Versailles
Nor know wanderlust’s calm at Gare de Bruges
That glory was one beat too far
Moulin Rouge commanded some checklist, foreign to me
And we’d “miles to go”
Topless beaches on the Med, and all….
Damned dogmas
But Kings and Conductors still summon me
For they heard my name
Nightly, I tell them
You’ve known no such power
And masterpiece
Such God-Speed
As me
So this suitcase sits at my bedside
Packed
With ink-pen and parchment
Pinafores and peace
Decreeing
Whistling
Ready
Write their names in the sky
In blue and gold, forever scar the clouds
Let Them Believe
For when they believe you believe
They will seek all they are
And with an eagle’s eyes
Pick up Hope’s pen
We could only dance
My hair drawn back, eyes upward
Sketched my dreaming pen
I heard thunder
Saw it
Had nowhere to go
Heated
I walked West and passed
Asian Lillies
Buildings with crumbling brick facades
Chain-link barriers rusted
Under which rabbits
Long since bored their way
Damned alleyways
Not a pen to be found to spell out the sound
So thunder spoke no more
I was cooled
If I
Must feel but
Stay silent outside
With wide eyes
With fine heart
And pen for my sword
Will youIf you
Must come but
With honor toward me
Stay farther
Stay shorter
And slay me no more
Will you
Wordsmiths are valiant
Seize them or flee For their tool
Wields rapture or pain
Creature Credit: Tucker, Eastern Screech Owl at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center