Saturday, May 24, 2014

A Lighthouse in California

I will borrow an April sky,
over red California cliffs,
the trail by the lonely lighthouse,
where summer sits

patiently, crouches painfully
under the ocean’s salted breath.
I will borrow you, Mr. Keats,
before that death

made oceans of your lungs, consumed
your body in an inner tide.
You and I will walk together
on the cold cliff side.

What do you think of metal beasts
on sickle-celled streets behind us?
These swift sunny-eyed carriages
tossing red dust

into the purple evening sky?
Sleepy clouds roll by, gathering
night in their sleeves as you and I
find ourselves walking

up the steps of the old lighthouse.
The windows show an orange glow,
cancerous crescendo in night.
You race to know

the gridded city of angels.
No knight at arms, no nightingale
in LA, Belle Dame sans Merci.
The rusted rail

wails in the wind as you lean out,
bent toward a distant, buried home.
The foghorn yells, and lost bells toll
somewhere in Rome.

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