04-30-2017, 01:58 PM
Neither Here nor There
I’ve never had a message for the dead.
How could they hear me, and if
they could why would it matter?
Last words can be a trick
the brain plays when the valve of oxygen
gets turned off in the blood.
You expect hallucinations and are surprised
by sudden clarity. She seems
to be looking at another person
when she says, “You
have to forgive yourself.” This was before
someone switches off her eyes
and she stops
crying forever.
I’ve never had a message for the dead.
How could they hear me, and if
they could why would it matter?
Last words can be a trick
the brain plays when the valve of oxygen
gets turned off in the blood.
You expect hallucinations and are surprised
by sudden clarity. She seems
to be looking at another person
when she says, “You
have to forgive yourself.” This was before
someone switches off her eyes
and she stops
crying forever.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson