Once my heart was big
I held it high
And let calloused hands caress
And cup their palms to test
my pulse.
I rested in folds
Like albatross wings
And when the sun rose
You rose
Draped in unshaped praises.
Daylight turned our muted faces,
softer than the artist’s smoothest smudges,
and arrayed our skin in smiles
leaving us to shine like pearl.
Lamb soft and lion bright
We were only shapes in secret
When laughter from our pink ribbed cages
Absconded with our innocence.
When night fell it was wild and cool
A leopard creeping with stolen jewels
And music in its throat so enchanting
I didn’t know to fear.
But you, dearly loved and now enwisened,
Somehow escaped these anaconda coils,
While I was vapid so I waited
in silent solitude to be enlightened.
I waited and I tasted every drop of air—
crystal and tranquil—a cleansing so cold
my cheeks and my lashes
were frosted with numbness.
When drawn at last as if from slumber
I saw shadows chasing, racing darkness
as it ran a railway through my chest
for pounding out this rhythm.
And it was pain, waking infant-like,
Peeling back the cerebral envelope
from spider’s eggs and balding heads
all crying in chaos to come forth.
Breathless against that smooth curve—
the hard line of a stallion’s spine—
I slipped into the crevice,
the dorsal stripe, the skeleton sigh.
When at once I looked down
how soft my pulse the distant drum—
how small my heart
had become.
Wow... This was very beautiful. You used such a broad and outstanding range of words here. There isn't much I have to say about this except well done. It was a bit lengthy and the ending could have been stronger, but other than that, great job!
I really liked your vocabulary use here and how well some of the lines flowed.
This is beautiful! I was trying to pick my favorite stanza to quote, but I was having difficulty, as they are all really good. The last stanza is excellent, it really brings the piece together and to a close--and it leaves a kind of chill behind. This is one of those works that really leaves an impression. Amazing! (No real critique here, sorry...)