Mother’s grueling incisors
Crueling ‘cross my bones
Bearing crosses beside our homes
Leaving gouges in their wake.
A thousand, thousand tears
Make up a single laugh:
My cross to bear, my dear.
As they calcify my fear, my dear,
I am left bereft with no one left,
And I can only cry,
“What humor have I left
in here with no one left to hear?”
As whispers whisper
Inside of here
In sight of her, my dear,
Looking on and loping ‘long
A ways away from wayward sons
As far and away from here
As she would dare, my fear.
Their whispers glister
Ever after, after ever
Never closer than this, my seer,
Always louder than a hiss, my dear
Just a touch, a breath
Without much else, and nothing less
But just a kiss beside my ear.
And all I hear
Are honeyed words
Licked and cleaned
By her love’s death
And all that’s left
Is no one’s best
Within this padded room, I bear.
