Reading Kafka tonight Turning the page then being Startled By a dead flower falling from the middle of the book I remembered her face And her soft high voice I felt it crawl up my backbone again "Read Kafka, please? Just read it for me, he's really great." "I might try..." We were so bad for each other Brought together By the pain of our pasts But she taught me how beautiful the World could be Flowers, animals,scents,escaping She taught me that the whole thing Is trivial,useless,a bad joke You could pick up and leave Whenever you want And in the end she did I was real hurt, but now I am proud of her I found an anarchist, unemployed, ***** haired beauty And turned her into a bitter, screaming, money obsessed nurse It wasn't right I brushed the dead flower from The bed Hoped she had made it To the cacti and the cold sand Took a warm sip of whiskey And got back to Kafka She was right again He is great