Post by amelie on Mar 7, 2004 20:38:47 GMT -5
In a Soho street café,
I lost someone I loved today;
Among the jangle and fluster;
The indifferent hostility
Of a city’s subterranean
Backdrop of frenetic fuss,
Where the discordant clatter
Of the commonplace, mellows
Into soft melody at the edge
Of hearing, when all thoughts
Narrow to a stiletto blade
Of dark decision and
Only the moment matters.
I took a word, whetted
On my tongue, honed
To an exact, surgically
Precise definition
Of unremitting hurt,
And struck deep
The trust and hope
Of another’s heart,
A lover’s heart;
And between the coffee,
Peppermints and the check,
Murdered her tomorrows.
And I wonder now,
How such bestial cruelty
Could lurk behind
Such limpid eyes;
How I could curve
Delicate fingers round
The spoon, stirring and
Sipping with dainty grace,
Plucking a crumb from
My coat, while I watched
Another beg her last
Tearstained hope into
A grubby napkin.
I wonder now, how
I could pay and leave,
And manage to escape
The fury of the mob;
The outcry and righteous
Flogging through outraged
Streets, naked and bleeding
In just torment of shame;
And leave my victim,
Dead on the pavement,
Trying to hail a cab;
Any place, to be alone
And bleed in private.
I know I could return;
You could say
I got away free;
No accusatory stares;
No crime scene tape,
Or body marked out
In ghoulish chalk outline;
My only punishment,
The sound of her
Concealed sobs, echoing
Reproachfully, reminders
Of The regret I carry;
Regret that in
A Soho street café
I gave up the one,
The one I loved, today.
