A Long Row of Days
for A.B.C.

woman like that in what jewelry box
where else to put her to keep her

as fine as she is, I’d need to hide her away

were it known that she were mine
that I was that fortunate, that I had such fortune
after it to steal it away, after me to do me in,
to do away with me

better off pretending that I have little or nothing
precious in this world

able to hide away poetry, to hide art I own
but a woman like that to go about with,
to have on my arm

not like a watch to snatch or steal, to be relieved of

one of this nation’s finest sisters, daughters
mine to have and to hold

worse than a leather brief case, worse than
a brand new Mercedes Benz or Jaguar
she’d be like having acquired a Rolls Royce
with envious eyes upon it

would it be enough to say to her
like Picasso said to François Gilot
cover yourself in black so man cannot have you with their eyes

how fearful I am of violence being visited upon me
out of envy, out of greed

try therefore to avoid being greedy myself

instead of sophisticated, I pretend to be shabby
to belong to the poor of this world


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
8:04 p.m. 29.09.09