To Live

Do not offer me grief
like toffees
on a glossy plate
nor asphyxiate me with
joy, numbing
my senses
toddy-high

do not

do not
No, do not caress that
temptress-
the noose
my heart entertains
now and
then-
an anesthetic
still
ness
admonishing pain.

Throb-wanting,
dregs of life stick
ing
at wounds
alive
to pain

alone.

blood rush, and
some medicine-
morphine, maybe.

blue limbs merge
into
greenery of the
curtains

a passe.

a prick in the wrist,
and life jostles
back,
gushing, plodding,
throbbing within

and,

thin drops of hot
blood
dri
b
b
le
red and real

like tomato ketchup on
your wedding gown.
Not a dream, no,
not yet
I gasp in
and out
of
life.