Absence: the devil’s love song
I.
The envy of those lacking it
is profound
and supremely
misdirected.
For we all miss
something,
even the devil
who’ll bottle up your soul
giving you one lunar month
to accomplish
his little task
in order for you to receive
your fondest wish
or be
forever his -
one more star
set
amidst a twinkling of stars,
the devil drinking you in
on his divan
with a fine brandy,
your soul glistening like a jewel
reflecting brightly off his snifter;
the devil always wondering
if there is more.
II.
Before we met
did you really feel
unfulfilled
with all that you
had accomplished –
creating light and dark,
time and space,
you,
yourself-
and how do you explain
this fountain of us,
this flowing of us through
and over the other,
each so sweetly moved
and changed
and now that you are
gone
this absence,
this emptiness
in the background
of being
and the silence
is too much…
III.
The dog sat in the middle of the road
and picked at a burr in its paw:
it licked and bit and chewed
long after the pad and the paw were gone –
the burr remaining
steadfastly
in his mind, his imagination,
his dreams.
