Albert Huffstickler
Before the beginning
“Things die,” she said
shaking her golden
head. Her hair caught
fire in the sunlight.
“You know how it is.
After a while, you
don’t care -
or care too much.”
Her name, she said,
was Sorrow-Of-The-
Ages. Her hair
turned grey at 25.
She said it was
in mourning for
all the dead flowers.
Cloudy all day.
No rain.
The sky has broken
another promise.
That man there
standing in
his own shadow,
feet immersed
in a dry puddle.
Afternoon traffic:
people hurrying,
eager to arrive
before they have
to leave again.
If we could just
listen to the stars,
she said.
If we could just
sleep with
the moon for a pillow.
It’s been said that
Death rides a
green tricycle
but I’m not sure
if that’s true
or not.
That man
in such a hurry
is trying to
catch up to himself
before he dies.
But everyone knows
that nothing poets
say is true.
And even if it were,
it wouldn’t apply.
She said I
loved her for her body.
I said I loved her
for her form.
What poets know
that no one else knows
is that all the
important things
happened before the
beginning.
Page(s) 114-115
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