Saturday, March 12, 2011

On The Breath of Apricots

In the bed of crisp white sheets

You slipped

A silver haired overlay

Of that raven haired

Hero of all things new

Arms resting on the bleached coverlet

Seen by others as skeletal and fading

I sung Sweet Chariot to you

White horses coming

As you redolent of turpentine and oils

Had taught and sung with me long ago

Just for this day

Curled quiet within the calliope

Of the childhood carousel

Turning to catch another

Glimpse of you as the music

Whirled, dust motes danced

In the slanting summer light

Waiting for you to leap

Fearless onto the still moving platform

To carry me in young powerful arms

Back to solid ground, back home

The laughter of children

Pure in the fading tinkle of the calliope

In the bed of crisp white sheets

My hand on the stopped beat

In your stilled chest

Your lips cooling

As you exhaled apricots

In the slanting summer sun

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