04-06-2024, 09:34 PM
prelude to an eclipse
a clutch of strangers
invade the house,
the misanthrope
juggles his features for so long
he forgets which are his own
they’ve come to see
an eclipse in the sky
if they just studied him
they’d see a dozen
spill across of his face
by the hour
company, they call it
but these are no more companions
than the Visigoths at the gates of Rome
they cheerfully sack
his solitude
leaving him no place to hide
except behind the moon
a clutch of strangers
invade the house,
the misanthrope
juggles his features for so long
he forgets which are his own
they’ve come to see
an eclipse in the sky
if they just studied him
they’d see a dozen
spill across of his face
by the hour
company, they call it
but these are no more companions
than the Visigoths at the gates of Rome
they cheerfully sack
his solitude
leaving him no place to hide
except behind the moon