Sunday, February 15, 2004
weightless crusader
he can hear her
soften her voice
as she matter-
of-factly mentions
her birthday,
but the bitterness
is clear across
dead air and deepening lines
over mirror lake,
which he has never
stared into or swum,
only gazed
at the surface
of glaze,
shining like a golden cross
over an alter before
the kneeling masses
who pinch and pray or
carry conversations or
dead relationships
through stifled sighs—
platitudes from a paladin,
bearing weight that is not hers,
weight that is not there.
soften her voice
as she matter-
of-factly mentions
her birthday,
but the bitterness
is clear across
dead air and deepening lines
over mirror lake,
which he has never
stared into or swum,
only gazed
at the surface
of glaze,
shining like a golden cross
over an alter before
the kneeling masses
who pinch and pray or
carry conversations or
dead relationships
through stifled sighs—
platitudes from a paladin,
bearing weight that is not hers,
weight that is not there.
