Sept 5

Have I done the math?
he asks with the wispy hair
How debonair - the math.
Have I added up,
summed and spelled?
Do the numbers all align?
I change the colors of the skies.
deepen shadows, flush cheeks, lips.
I alter slightly salt and foam.
There goes the smooth rocks' glisten-light,
a sharper line, a softer glare. I wonder there.
The years ahead they are the stairs,
as mortar falls like ash to desks,
the carilloonneurs sound.
The golden clock-face chimes.
I refuse to swallow quiet down
the sickly phlegm of mean denying.
No false rejection of the moment,
cruel apologetic tone.
Only honest choice and some commitment
these will bind me to a mast while smiling.

I laugh: "the math."

CDL