THE COUNCIL

 

Forget it they said when I asked but I won’t.
Its eyes blue as a logo, teeth like a ladder.

In the room there was a piano. I tried to play
what I saw but could not. And then the piano

flaked away. I was alone there, alone with my
father’s money. I could not weep. I was far

too wealthy for weeping. It crouched at the edge
of my youth and waited. Forget it they said

as its breath came rattling from under its hair.
Now, late in the century, I have fallen in among

a menacing element. I am possessed of many
golden utensils, acquired in the usual way. It’s cold

here in the room-rain with my unbuttoned coat.
I watch the mushrooms grow from the heart.

I want to be its companion. I want it in my old
age to carry my song back to its den. As the rain

drinks itself from the windowsill I beseech
thee unspeakable thing, make use of me.