To Julie

                    ";but now I know
that twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
and what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
                    W.B. Yeats "The Second Coming"
"We are the roses in the garden"
                    "Eden" 10,000 Maniacs

My first kiss sent me rolling
                                    towards this curtained womb where
                      the swaying buildings rock my heart
                                                                   gently until still,
           as stone, the city that here is hidden
                                                         glints once at dawn, waking to become
Metropolis

My latest kiss, a rose to greet the dawn,
                                                    remembers fireflies at her window...
                      hot embers, past lovers burning brightly
                                                                       in steamy September sunmoon...
           lights a cigarette, downs a coffee and casts off
                                                                      the ashes to become again a phoenix
But not a chrysalis.

My last kiss is now the night
                                     shade of my curtained cocoon, still
                      borne the last shriveled hopes I lie (and lie)
                                                                             against still,
           as forever, the dawn discovers folds
                                                        in a heart that will not unfold
But for a rose.
                    At dawn,
                                 I a(rose)
                                              and rolled out of bed.

9/17/97