Remember, boy
The sherpa'd pray
Don't build your dreams
On what others say
Don't float your canoe
On the reeds of others' promises
The wolf skin gives no warmth, no
Love is a salve to its final growl.

And remember, youth
The harlot told
No love may glitter
Brighter than gold
The ivory teeth
May chatter and squeak
As much as my joints
On my wooden, bent-backward frame.

Don't forget,
She'd order
Don't forget me
I shook my head
No time to
Ask her name
I gloomed over my fireplace
And settled down to the ink-spilled night,
My own skin
Warmer than the moon, at least.