#16 - yonder all before us

16^th of January, 2020

16

yonder all before us

without apologizing to Marvell

I want some other lives to live

I’ve loved this one so much

I want

not yours, not theirs

but mine mine mine

and not more of the same

but wild

I want some other worlds as well   

this one’s worn but not quite out

want kinder, more creative

ones where sense is common

fools hang back to learn

better sunsets, wider dawns

more moons and less regrets

want the other lives

when I’ll be this and I’ll be that

and you’ll be there as well

yes, I want you to live on

have an idea of the conversation

a library of light

and sometimes the bulbs blow

dumb luck

set down

the task ahead burns up

that could be re-entry

I want some other lives

at sea, in space

they say ‘to lead’

make a career

and headlong all hearts

with how I’ve sung

that’s when I grow up

firefighter, diva

ballerina, sumo

and bravely go where

nobody knows

heads tails

always chased

a double life or nothing

loyal to each fault

I want to wear a skirt and heels

dance with a tail all through hell

harp on high

I’d like to fly

and wish well-wishers well

I could be an institution

watch the wash and dry

in deserts of vast eternity

each turn of the wheel

I’m more sincere

all those books never opened

some selves shelved

gone

gone spare

tricked from the world

got up to old

some other life

leant heavily

or elsewhere followed on

through posts unlikely from this angle

all acknowledge how I bent it

must settle only for the best

I want this one life to be lived

at the end of days, just mine, to say

‘I really really meant it’