Ithaca

Promising, delicate 17 & the light was auburn You took my hand, scarf and all, vulvaic thoughts Taught me Dylan's wisdom through your poems Patience, patience Porcelain, made of ivory skin Your brain was strange I'd say not sane Softened purrs, contented sighs In my silence I know you were wise Although it seemed I couldn't cherish it All her watercolored illnesses They will leave her body 'til I'm sick instead All her thoughts and all her ideas They will be my Ivy League until I'm dead Saw me off through the snow While Meloy separated us both, goodbye Troublesome, thoughtlessness Honeyed bread right upon your bedding Sweet, complete Jealousy, horrid thing Kammerman as a gritty symbol Scent you made, it burned my brain Ithaca, Ithaca Land of roofs, land of books and sun And her, and us, and the bitter end All her watercolored illnesses They will leave her body 'til I'm sick instead All her thoughts and all her ideas They will be my ivy league until I'm dead I wandered through the leaves, defeated, no release at all A wound was underneath Softened peacoat threads; hairs upon my head Detritus for my seeds, till waiting for a tree to grow A decade behind me In an auburn glade there's no lack of shade When the sun's an opaque dot October is a tease A pretty, preppy equinox But in reality: an uncaring void Memories of joy caged behind a regal lock