“do you remember when...”
Hangs in the humidity of summer eves
And lovers' living histories
To relive and refresh
Pa**ing ancient secrets down between themselves
To keep the fire from burning out
And survive the coming storms
Or lose each other in the dark
In the steady wars for storage
To the victors go the stories
And abortions boarded over and condemned
Always summarizing summaries
Pick the keyframes out
And try to animate between the best you can
There's a lifetime in one life alone
It's all that we can do to understand
“get out of bed
Today may be another day that's doomed to fade
Like every other day before, but...”
That's how this used to begin
Orphaned from a thinner age of teen cliches
Alone in my woodpanelled cave
Who can truly know the source
The institutions that were forged?
So convinced i've been evolving since
Writing about writing about writing
Until the sentences collapse
But maybe that's part of what meta's for
Or hiding behind metaphors
To lose that callow core in the abstract
And cut a story i can carry
From the quarry of what is left to be unpacked
The night will say, “snow falls from lamps.”
Most will nod and think it wise
Though all the while the dark air's filled for endless skies
But with dawn comes an end
The sunrise frowns across the unexpected ground
For those who cannot bear to see it
Happy birthday
To you