for Charles
You have lived six decades and you have lived none
You have loved many and you have loved no one
You wedded three wives but you lie in your cold bed alone
You sired four children but they cannot forgive you
Knock at emptiness a house without your love
Strike the pine box no answer all hollow
You planted plums near the gate but they bear no fruit
You raised herbs in the veranda fresh and savory
I cry for you but no sound wells up in my throat
I sing for you but my tears have dried in my gullet
Walk the old dog give the budgies a cool bath
Cut a tender melon let it bleed into memory
The robe you washed hangs like a carcass flayed
The mug you loved is stained with old coffee
Your toothbrush is silent grease mums your comb
Something's lost something's made strong
Around the corner a new prince yearns to be loved
A fresh turn of phrase a bad strophe erased
A random image crafts itself into a poem
A sleepless Taipei night a mosquito's symphony
Who will cry for you me and your sister Colette
Who will cry for you me and your Algerian sister
You were a rich man but you held on to your poverty
You were a poor man who loved gold over dignity
I sit near your body bag and sing you a last song
I sit near your body bag and chant your final sutra
What's our place on earth? nada nada nada
What's our destiny? war grief maggots nada
Arms cheeks cock femur eyelids nada
Cowl ox lamb vellum marrow nada
Vulva nada semen nada ovum nada
Eternity nada heaven nada void nada
Birth and death the same blackened womb
Birth and death the same white body bag
Detach detach we enter the world alone
Detach detach we leave the world bone lonely
If we can't believe in god we must believe in love
We must believe in love we must believe in love
And they zip you up in your white body bag
White body bag white white body bag