Afternoon from Event by Enemy of the Rose

you were a tree i couldn’t uproot -
your roots were tangled in everything i am and all i do.
and in the fireglow you chanted the daimoku -
nice and slow
and got it right the first time, and i thought:
i have nothing left to teach you.
and you wondered why i touched your ribs the way i did;
that’s because i love it that inside each of us
a skeleton is hidden.
you and me, with a different name and the same frame -
from our starting structure, look how separate
we became!

you were a taste i couldn’t forget
and a half-open door to a half-broken swing-set.
i pushed aside the weeds along the threshold
and came back with a handful of regret!
only in dreams am i such a masochist -
to ask for the front and back of your hand
and the twice-hitting twist.
i fought halfheartedly
and thought for sure you would believe
the picture i insist,
like a costume i wear to prove i exist
when under my skin i’m more fragile than this.
like a costume i wear to prove i exist -
when under my skin i’m much more fragile than this!

only in dreams
to ask for the front and back of your hand
pushed aside the weeds along the threshold
and came back with a handful of regret!

we are fallen leaves
in a somber grove
of rotten undergrowth and shady trees.
and hid in me is a dream
that can roll off my tongue like a five-finger melody.

and if i write about the truth,
you’ll see me more clearly, by the light of a full moon.
if i don’t write about the truth,
my words fall lifeless in the lightless afternoon.

• Metal
• Rock
• Spoken Word
• Rochester