Streetlight
November 6, 2011
I want to carry you like guilt
into a room
smelling of dust and books.
Like all the yesterdays we drowned in,
the mattress on the floor is a truth
waiting to be obscured
by the veils
that protect our songs from the streetlight
then you’ll remind me
that at night
the words that you say
become the oaths that i live by
until I die again
and I will reach for your lips
watching your eyes for danger
wow anton – love this..great opening stanza and powerful closure..also great…the yesterdays we drowned in and the veils protecting the songs from the streetlight…i like
beautiful
i really really like – gut wrenching beauty
completely stunning.
every stanza aches.
hi again…smiles
Eyes are like weather vanes.. you can see storms on the horizon..
nicely done !!
Wonderful verse, love the strong close, nicely done.
smell like books…i love the smell of books…that section on the oaths i live by is hot…like this much…
Watching your eyes for danger … oh Anton, I’m so far from this story, but it really is ageless. It could be anyone, anywhere, anytime..definitely tapping the universal (uh-huh I did mean that double entendre). Hope you’re well.
what a beauty,that first stanza with its ‘carry you like guilt’ and ‘smelling of dust and books’- yes, I’m there. the whole poem offers me new ways of looking at moments like this though…just fantastic- I will return to read again.
Thanks everyone for the nice words.. Gay, I’m ok, hope you re too, given everything.
love it, the opening line is impressive.
The longing is palapable, but the piece never shrieks; indeed, the control and the conditional nature of the language (e.g., “want” instead of “will”) seems to underscore a certain hesitancy, a certain inability to totally give over to abandon. I have been away from these words too long.