Good-luck Charm
for A.W.

when my cup runneth over
like you've caused it to

when unafraid to love, to befriend
to be friends

when unafraid of what words can say
of what the heart can say, has to say

before it stops, while it beats
before hell freezes over
before its fires go out, before life ends

word or two to spend, a pen to empty
or before a pen is empty, a song

have you sixpence to spin for it
to spend for what sixpence
used to be able to buy

'66, ages before you were conceived
or thought up or thought of

want to get to the heart of you now
of who you are now

full of joy and trust, and truth and light
full of life, of the sweet of it

not bitter like some of us are
like some days are, like some deeds are

bees honey, bees wax and you
among life's sweet things
life's sweetest parts

part with something or other
keepsake for me, good-luck charm

oh the length of line, of verse I throw out
like lasso to catch a steer escaping
or a heart racing off

a ride, a rodeo
rider upon the back of one,
bucking and wild

would have no one on its back
for more than a minute

are you a lover of wild times, wild things
according to Joni Mitchell,
wild things run fast

domesticate horses to ride to town
to pull a carriage

long time before you'll be needing
such a vehicle

see you in your limousine
with your escort, all of those photographs

what event was that, whose graduation
his or yours

what a world or what worlds
your pictures open up
what a lot of windows

glad I can look into them
can see through them

hand I cover my face with
to think up more lines
smells of lime I have only recently
squeezed into my tea,
into my tea cup

smell as pretty
or almost as pretty as you are,
when you think of Christ
when you think of Christmas

my God, the geese
in this film I'm watching
on webbed feet, fleeing
white wings flapping
mischievous boys chasing them
in Ireland, in Angela's Ashes


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
1:40 p.m. 04.01.11