A Birthday Bathe

It’s was dark.

Dark.

Lightless as the sprung raisins,

Still decaying from the party

(And they won’t ever stop)

The poppers hang like ghosts,

And, desperate peppers,

Cling to sounds

They ever and only make once:

”I love you” and “Marry me”,

”Pay the mortgage”

”Pay the morgue”

“Pause”

Children mouth them

With lips as round as oranges

(And they won’t ever stop)

And still the cake is buzzing,

And still the lights are off:

Dark doors don’t ring cops

And even the fireman

Must smoke his money

From time to time.

(And they won’t ever stop)

The clocks, by now, have set

Their rigor mortis:

(And they won’t ever stop)

Back an hour and for an hour,

The hands, they dance around

The jammy knife, a life-

Less thing

No consciousness to feel

The rush of time,

It’s pummel

It’s plump

(And they won’t ever stop)

All things move

To cradle that little head:

That soft skull,

That bad cheese grater,

That bad icebreaker

(And they won’t ever stop)

Coz dark doors don’t ring cops

And crying kids will go to bed

Go bad

And kiss themselves

(And they won’t ever stop)

So buzzing, buzz the birthday

Cake, that black slate, that

Table thing, that fancy face,

That glassy vase,

All poured away

A mother eats her fingernails.

This all must go

THIS ALL MUST GO

AND THEY WONT

Ever

Stop

A match

A blaze

A birthday bathe

And all the rest will drop

In place:

It will never stop.