Exorcism

I can’t believe that you are going

there, oh House of Birds,

I warned you of my sisters

and you met my father

we don’t have the time

for cabin games or carbon experiments

if you are no longer a little boy

then leave me with my sons

my love for you

was the scab that grew

over the open wound of your rejection

it was the scaffolding on my basilica

it’s the moat around my fortress

and the cavernous darkness tunneling underneath

where the waters turn rankid meeting up against stone

that is also you

and what use have these walls

besides as my prison?

and when will I hear the music of my name

spoken without the sneer of yours?

I know the future to be naught but a rumour
scarcely less dead than the past
I know finders keep, the universal law
and I know the dark memories
wherein I lost you

yet
I turn black inside and red outside

quickly
Hamlet grabs one hand, Holden the other
and Michelangelo’s God anoints my tongue
how long have they been ready for this?

* how right it's me the camera follows

now leave
your nasty design
has failed
and we are only bickering fools

* and rightly so my music plays

is there any triumph as sweet
as that gentlemanly parade of pillow sermons
I won’t miss you, oh I won’t, I won’t

P. McGreer