How Something Solid as this Man
| “The shadow of the trees in the misty river dies like smoke” ~ Verlaine, Romances sans Paroles
How something solid as this man beside
Me there dissolved to nothing more than smoke
Mixed in with shadows of a willow, oak,
And hulking bridge I’ll never understand.
We travelled there together and we lay
In stricken silence, poetry unmanned,
In dirty upper rooms. I was his prey
Or he was mine. We lay down like a lamb
And lion in their paradise, except
We both gnawed muscles of the heart in sham
Affection, as filthy secrets kept.
A foggy, night-time river won’t allow
Much light to help false lovers shirk their vow.
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by phillipw | Jan 22, 2020 | RI, VE |