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In the westernmost part of the city,
There is a grove where I thought and despaired,
Wherein I wallowed in endless self-pity.
The day’s heat made short work of my mind; I stared
Blankly into the laden branches of the tree
Until so stricken with woe I declared:
“Here I shall sleep until answers befall me.
I will shed worry and the knife of betrayal
And drink so deeply of zinnia tea.”
I did all this, but still feared I could fail
To discover the cause of the treason.
I lay back on my blanket of rusted nails,
Balancing incoherence and reason.
One eye saw shadow, the other saw the limbs
Of the tree, whose leaves I’d seen in every season.
When a breeze came, they sang gentle hymns
If they were pink or green, but be they bare
As they were then, the melody is grim.
Mercy unto me by the Sun’s drying glare!
Before summer unfolds, red fruits fell by my head
Where devil’s shoestring crept near, my hope ensnared.
Let fall storms of hail before I need dread
A widening rift, cracked by envy,
In which we both fall wearing shoes of lead.
Before we defeated those picnickers many
And took the shade, we both more beautiful things wrote:
Symphony came easily when you gently
Played these keys, and too often did we gloat.
With each petty victory we mauled the wood,
Until you bled bronze: a fallen dress, a missed note.
I took from you the only things I could
Without remorse, and let your poisonous vice free.
So now you’re doomed, never great, only good.
Awaken from this dream, so I can see
You are trapped in the dying red bud tree.
- DRCD
- Las Vegas, NV
There is a grove where I thought and despaired,
Wherein I wallowed in endless self-pity.
The day’s heat made short work of my mind; I stared
Blankly into the laden branches of the tree
Until so stricken with woe I declared:
“Here I shall sleep until answers befall me.
I will shed worry and the knife of betrayal
And drink so deeply of zinnia tea.”
I did all this, but still feared I could fail
To discover the cause of the treason.
I lay back on my blanket of rusted nails,
Balancing incoherence and reason.
One eye saw shadow, the other saw the limbs
Of the tree, whose leaves I’d seen in every season.
When a breeze came, they sang gentle hymns
If they were pink or green, but be they bare
As they were then, the melody is grim.
Mercy unto me by the Sun’s drying glare!
Before summer unfolds, red fruits fell by my head
Where devil’s shoestring crept near, my hope ensnared.
Let fall storms of hail before I need dread
A widening rift, cracked by envy,
In which we both fall wearing shoes of lead.
Before we defeated those picnickers many
And took the shade, we both more beautiful things wrote:
Symphony came easily when you gently
Played these keys, and too often did we gloat.
With each petty victory we mauled the wood,
Until you bled bronze: a fallen dress, a missed note.
I took from you the only things I could
Without remorse, and let your poisonous vice free.
So now you’re doomed, never great, only good.
Awaken from this dream, so I can see
You are trapped in the dying red bud tree.
- DRCD
- Las Vegas, NV