O Beloved

Oh, beloved, I'm going to speak to you now
As if we understood each other somehow
As if the fire you wear as your crown
Wasn't my very own house burning down

Oh, beloved, I'll speak now as if you were time
And I was the tree you crawled like a vine
Waving my arms to ward off the crows
Beloved, I don't want to know all you know

Beloved, our bedclothes are roiled by the tide
That drags us below and then up to the side
Buckled and winded and throbbed to the deep
Beloved, don't make a promise you don't plan to keep

Beloved, I see faces in cupboards and walls
Knocking like horses awake in their stalls
Their eyes rolling back, electric and wide
Beloved, I was only just finding my stride

Beloved, December has turned into May
And all of our years come down to today
Beloved, your world is much stranger than we
Had ever imagined each other to be

Beloved, we've left very little unsaid
And nothing unsung here over the dead
Whose vanishing rites enlivens the blue
Beloved, I hide from and I'm running to you