A Death a Day

A death a day keeps the doctor busy
bagging his way through the damage
all night too, how do you bear up under
what you carry with you, such a shade
appalling your sight, and not from sun

A death a day keeps the riverfront up
and running, stevedores busy, tourists
happy not being among them, not now
or here or ever, the fancy fellows hope
with their tiara’d ladies riding one arm

A death a day, a death a day, a death
a day, and that’s enough: put up and
shut up, let your heart do all the talk
and your legs carry you from here to
where she is, gamine, waiting for you

somewhere on Canal, she said she’d
be ready to go by the time you got there
and here you are, and there she is,
swinging one leg over the other and
"it’s all I can do to get to you in time"

to live, to stay alive, to be alive, and yes
I’d love to ride the paddlewheel upriver
and hold you close so the sandbars don’t
jar your sweet body’s balance when boat
happens to stop and we get truly started

(1 January 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander