Time's Come

Did you need to know what to do? or when . . .
Will this be your life, back and forth between
one name and the other, wanting to stay
and needing to go, you just know you know
what’s best for you, and the way to get there . . .

You are doing better now, that’s for sure,
save for that hangdog gait you make your own,
limping down the street with a handmade cane,
feeling young, looking older than ever,
knowing the time has come to start over.

Time’s come. No one will find mama’s coffin,
you need to free your brother from the house
where his beautiful whore holds him in thrall,
and wean yourself from her blue-eyed sister,
but don’t leave the one who shelters you here . . .

Her black skin without seams, her body lithe
as though she were forty years younger now
than then. Her lips the color of dark plums,
her body rich as the sweetmeat inside her
you found when you found her in this city

harboring lost souls, giving you a love
no man expects to come his way and stay . . .
Adore. Let her love you and love her back,
she won’t last forever, neither will you,
let her guide you to reach for ecstasy.

That’s what you want, but know it’s not enough.
Still, what other lover holds out to you
welcoming arms that never refuse you
though you be reluctant to embrace her,
hungry for one in another city . . .

(13 March 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander