now and forever
now might I keep you forever thus unchanged
against the eventual day for both of us arranged
when the rude winds shall bring
no promise of another spring
but cold and comfortless satisfaction
the grave's discreet and quiet action
I would not mind the days precisioned
to the clock's unwinding
flesh to flesh binding
would find some way as yet unvisioned
some way to forget
the fever and the sweat
here where lovers have known
the soft of hair and hard of bone
hearing each other moan
a way more conscionably kind
for a night's repose
but time defined
forbids us to dispose
of even one brief moment that has passed
or keep the moment thus forever fast
catchtraps
we knew the words before we knew their meaning
who asked so many whys while still in weaning
how many pitfalls marked with skull and crossbones
to outwit those who lay beneath the moss stones
then set about to verify the answers
seeking in us the cause of others' cancers
so found ourselves new victims of time's catchtraps
and now must moan and curse until the latch snaps
beyond cost