Neither/Nor: What Keeps You Here
Neither burn
nor quench
Neither fire
nor flame
Neither me
nor you
Can escape the reality
Of what time and death
fears to do
. . . the stray bird flew . . .
Neither by force
nor fade
Neither servant
nor slave
Neither turn
nor veer
Neither ledge
nor floor
Neither void
nor door
Not century
nor disease
Neither rat
nor fleas
Not sumptuous
Disease
Nor bended knee
Can separate the
eternal you
From the infinite me.
You are the drug that
Races to the brain –
I am the mortician’s
bloody drain.
You are the spoon,
I am the water.
You are the lamb,
I am the slaughter.
You are the black smoke:
My ultimate addiction,
You are my favorite
Provincial affliction.
You are the pant
I am the breath.
You are the life,
I am transcending
My hobbled little death.
Ni vire!
Neither
nor
leaves space
for that hangman’s
opening in the
earthly floor.
Not by force
nor fear,
Not by noose kept near.
Neither by oath
nor compulsion
Nor by blackmail emotional
nor sick devotion -
But by love’s sole desire to
Protect
Every hair on your head
From what lays
Stalking beyond both
The living and the dead.
