He swallowed the night, all black
and came back all blue
I lost my face, he said, my faith
I lost down in a hole
and it’s all your fault

It’s your fault I lost my teeth
now I’m falling out of you
and who will be there to help me find
the laws I lost in the diamond skies

At last it’s never enough let going
At first it’s all instinct not really minding
but to prolong longing and to protect
tenderly, the soft yolk of his soul

When a mother quits
she hangs the umbilical cord
over the door
which is left open

Outside the sky falls
into streets of black ice
he runs backward through the dark
where signs of hope are not all
that feel lovingly gone
and hurtingly small