And the fire shall not eat me alive.
The moment that you spoke my name,
That Einstein instant your breath split your perfect lips,
I turned to glare and I turned to you.

Like a sword, the wind slashed my face
It travels like time and penetrates skin,
And the rain's fingers assaulted my cheeks, my brow, my eyelids
I thought of you then, that epiphanous minute,
That glorious union of seconds... seconds...

Of your phoenix hair and Athenian eyes
Your volcanic wrath and Sylvia Plath
Shapeless and fleeting, with a body like Neruda's verse
And a voice like Neruda's words

Words, that nation of sounds,
A sonic boom of beauty, a magnitude of breath
That travels time and penetrates like skin.
So serious, so serene, luminous and liquid,
I turned to stare, and I stared at you.

I don't know if you turned to stone,
But I won't turn to ash.
My flesh does not melt. My blood does not burn.
I've had enough of this Grecian urn.
I don't want to be stuck on a Grecian urn.

Shapeless and fleeting, oceanic and tidal,
Pray for the predator, for the questions
That the answering machine can't answer.
I'll still be here when the cactus rots,
All alone with my charlie brown thoughts.

27 Mar 1996

(Author's Note: Blogger won't let me post date that far back, so I'm posting like it's 1999.)