Happy Belated

I wrote you a letter in my finest hand
And I slipped it into a blue trash can

It was hot ash on my shirt fabric
The words too brash
For a gentle maverick

But don’t grieve what you believe
I could have related
It was heavy and hollow and safe and belated

the letter still will travel, unmeasured
With the flies, the rot, and the dirty treasures

How foolish of me
To think my love could nourish you, nurse you
Encourage you, coerce you
Your beauty’s in a barrel
In a waterfall’s peril
Oh what it could have been
We’ll see, we’ll see

I’m a biplane sketching hearts in skies
La to the Carolinas on combustible goodbyes

Porto hotelsI have carried and carted you, dearly departed
I held you hostage in songs never sung never started

What a kite-flyin’, scared-of-dyin’, yellow brick road you found
So in my slow-going, still-no-knowing way I am whittling down

Rotterdam hotelsWe’re like two ships passing in the night
You and I
We’re flames with the same wind and the flickering light

Berlin hotel roomsDaniela Gesundheit ©2003