Every last breath Noted on a bemusing script of flesh Like a disease Like an infectious— Tell me. If I could do it over And kiss you whilst your lips quaked Then grin alongside shy tears That life you were pulling up, With my eyes as your sheave to a dim-lit tapestry, Would it be there yet? Behind the curtain of magnanimity Pit orchestra abashed Forlorn and begotten Words of heraldry ring through this kingdom Existing only in my mind A land beneath the stage Worlds inside headspace Turn the critic’s shadowy eye Backward from this date on newsprint Soaked in angry, puddled water soot