A Dream's Face
10/24 2023
I have the devil dressed up in heavenly white
Stripping in front of the mirror for my benefit,
Asking me if I'm too hot for comfort.
The voice is unfamiliar though I recognize its scent.
Yesterday I used to laugh with the gods
But now I've changed my tune to C minor.
He watches from behind me, he laughs at my difficulty.
He's done this a thousand times before,
Though I can't recall any of them.
He's played a thousand roles to standing ovations,
Soon I'll remember him just the same.
You know, it's kinda funny,
She sings the same song as she did ten years ago
But her face has changed,
Now she's the groceery store clerk chewing gum,
The cleaner talking loudly on her phone,
The newly graduated young cheering,
The bearded barber that borrows my pen,
People in the mirror's periphery.
Use up the last breath of others,
That moment where we use the most rage.
But what about love?
Does it whisper at the start of a cool winter's day?
Does she, who I've never met many times before,
Stand in a tulle gown patiently waiting,
Jotting down some notes in her notebook as frost is falling over the tin roofs,
And old men are passed out drunk in dark alleyways,
And faces are drawn on dried out cigarettes,
And memories from the world war create new religions,
(It wears the disguise of something brown),
Does she then wait for the sound of me coming around the corner?
What sound does the devil make when he draws his last breath?