Crocodile tears
07/14 2021
To see it reflected in the water,
Yet being unable to reach it
With vision or by physical excursion,
To be relegated to its trailing shadow,
Seeing it far above in the sky,
In the sun rising in the east,
All leaves me with a crocodile's tears.
I go to search the wide world
For the lady with a strawberry handkerchief,
She that is able to hold a clammy hand
As death arrives on his white horse,
And claims us both for his own house.
Where the sun perpetually shines
On our perfect reflections.
Where churches are built with old money,
I don't have anything to put on the casket
Except for the dandelion I picked
In my shoddily tended garden.
Roses arrive in the delayed winter
To congratulate me for my earth,
Apparently the chemical make up is good.
What if the little children I meet on the road
Were told the truth ---
That the snake around their feet
Is the harbinger of mercury tears,
And that it doesn't matter if they run away
For a snake he's quick, you see,
Because he's lonely, and he can't be alone.