The sound of screaming fills the day

The sound of screaming fills the day

As a hundred thousand million stars

Explode

like shattered dreams

Crossing

the waking world.

Feel the earth

turning away,

Turning, turning, turning, turning

Into a clamoring mourning.

Keening starts

not in the diaphragm

or in the blood

or in the marrow,

but in the soul.

It reaches down

Down to the root

The root of roots--

Our heart of hearts

and thrumming there

Thrumming

the thread it finds;

It starts in low,

then it starts to grow.

A twinkle

in your eye

as the adage goes;

A penny

For your thoughts

as the saying goes

I’ll pay and pay and pay and pay

For what you hold

Inside your hold

What I wouldn’t give

Just to hold--

Oh no.

Too young, too young, too young, too young

to die:

A girl

who never was,

and never shall

Thanks

to you and yours--

Their silent, happy apathy

is deafening

to those with hearts to hear,

I cannot hold

this broken crust

of a world

and slip,

Slip away

from me

and my hard-won joys.

The lights are on,

but no one’s in the shop’

I polish stools and tables

for you and yours.

Awaiting the day

when the stars come out

And we can all laugh about it now,

Can’t we?

Won’t we?

Will we?

Shall we?

Could we?

Should we?

I know, I know, I know, I know,

“No one will ever love a quitter.”

Shameful to be

what you were always meant to hate

isn’t it?