Canopy

Rice paper walls yield to the wind's caresses
The sun hangs low, a fireball in the sky
The couch still scented from her sleeping tresses
While near on the sill, a songbird lets fly

The doorknob, rusty in my hand, unlocking
Outside the sunlit air is great with child
Dimly now, I hear tomorrow knocking
Within, her footsteps are light on the tile.

What in God's name this is, I can't explain
Glaciers melt, polar seascapes trace
Stalking his prey, cubs tug the lion's mane
My hand is touched by some kind of grace

We walk along the stream a little while
Each stumble an occasion for caress
Across both faces shyly steals a smile
The whole of the sky echoed in her dress

Her eyes black coals, the fire smolders
Her lips, black cherries ripe to burst
A canopy of angels draped across her shoulders
To shelter a child in the stars immersed

The world's disorder is in full rehearsal
As madness through a rabid mongrel sings
The foam on his lips a coded commercial
For this, a gun is prepared in the wings

The twine of dark in light is never-ending
Graveyards spawning colonies of death
Up on the rooftop the junkie's elbow bending
While her hand in mine portends our child's breath.