You All in White

Whatever cities are brought down
I will always bring you poems
And the fruit of orchards i pass by

Strangers in your bed
Excluded by our grief
Listening to sleep-whispering
Will hear their passion
Beautifully explained
And weep because they cannot kiss
Your distant face

Lovers of my beloved
Watch how my words put on
Her lips like clothes
How they wear her body like a rare shawl
Fruit is pyramided on the window-sill
Songs flutter against the disappearing wall

The sky of the city is washed in the fire
Of Lebanese cedar and gold
In smoky filigree cages
The apes and peacocks fret
Now the cages do not hold
In the burning street man and animal
Perish in each other's arms
Peacocks drown around the melting throne
Is it the king
Who lies beside you listening?
Is it Solomon or David
Or stuttering Charlemagne? Is that his crown
In the suitcase beside your bed?

When we meet again, you all in white
I smelling of orchards, when we meet -

But now you awaken
And you are tired of this dream
Turn toward the sad-eyed man
He stayed by you all the night
You will have something to say to him