An Apology To Patty.
I'm sorry for telling you why I'm sad,
the nights we lie wide-eyed in bedroom darkness.
It might be the fact you can become afraid at what I say
and press next to me.
Your right hand flat above my heart.
Your left arm tucked under like a wing
that makes me say it again, as the solid familiar objects
of the room rise from shadow to outline like animals coming out
of the ocean.
If I could still see them, when the light goes off
and the air suddenly blackens, I might not
be overtaken by the sense that the life I've chosen
is the wrong one.
And tell you, as if then you could take it inside you,
and so take me along."