Ode

(to Naved)

Behold yourself my adoring kin,

Naked walker of the East.

I have, or would be, captivated

By the cadence of your soul

Across the beating dirt.

How I long for you.

I once prepared so many words.

All for you, and your return.

But instead I take fortress here,

Before our golf course on the campus

Where we watched for UFO's

And close encounters with our own spirits

Do you remember?

It is all a foreign novel to me now.

The open green is an estranged cousin

Without you to introduce us.

I travel long night roads...

Roads we've conquered.

I run lapse around them

And tread common paths by foot.

Eight hours a week or more.

I sit up in cafes

And speak to strangers

And commune with your comrades

And keep you alive

With rampant gestures and flagrant terms.

Do I fill your shoes?

I know no minds akin to you.

On these nights, before greens and roads,

I dare to desire we were

Crooked Sinners...

That both had the constitution to be unthinkable.

You know as well as I how simple it would have been.

We could live in octagon houses with

Tigers and all your dangerous beasts...

But we were not constructed for this love.

This love I long for.

The rest needn't be spoken... I know you understand.