If You Want Me

For my Valentine

Swell then, heart,

You rattling thimble!

Balloons may burst

Before they pass the clouds.

If feet shake and flesh prickles

With every step

That could be the last,

Then why should we walk?

If every syllable will float

Unprotected in the air

That waxes with our words,

Then why should we talk?

Happiness haunts with subtle dread.

You know, if you want me you should have just said.

Stranger on a Train

You drink the world

Like old men sip their beers,

Heads bowed in

Surreptitious swigs.

Those deep-set eyes

That widen through the years

Sit proud in

Caves of vigilance,

Shadowed with purpled

Folds of sallow skin;

Bags for life

Filled to the brim.

So did your cool, unsparing glance

See callousness and arrogance?

Little Victories

Come February Eden- show your face!

Come rebel summer- burn winter away!

The day is yours- shine on and make us proud!

Blow back the fog of the declining day.

Due West the bright balloon is flying low;

The avian chorus chirrups its dissent

That they should share their sky with dilettantes

Raised up, made godlike by Promethean vents.

Come five o’clock no resonance remains;

Persephone returns to her dread tomb,

With her I’ll languish in the misty gloom

And with one little lapse lose all my gains.

These little victories are all in vain

Since winter is still winter all the same.