Heliotrope

[This is a poem I wrote for the 2012 edition of SUNY Geneseo's Opus magazine.]

Lowered these two trembling fingers

To a rippling slab of shale

And, at once in reckoning her,

Felt her pulse begin to fail.

Wept pollutant hued of bloodstone.

In her glad freshwater spring,

Tears of salt relinquished unknown

Shudders never more could sing.

Wanted only in that second

Opiate to numb her pain.

All her poppy buds unfecund

Wilt, aborted, scarlet stained.

Surged upright within that valley,

Vowing there to save her life.

Up her august breast did sally,

Limbs with verdant vigor rife.

Towered tall atop the apex,

Hurling prayers into the sun,

Helpless, supplicating ibex

Bled his brothers’ sins undone.

Fused intents with ultraviolet

Spurts to iron heart. Unwed

Flesh on rock became the pilot,

Witness to her aspen bed.

Could not countermand infections

Paved by asphalt knife, betrayed.

She was skinned of snow protection,

Salt in every lesion made.

Broke two fingers where she trembled,

Flailing thighs in final throes,

Capillaries disassembled,

Tributaries overflowed.

Watch headstone of chalcedony

Switched for stark cement and glass.

This too-mortal alimony

Never should have come to pass.