Poem 386

Jotted down on the back of a computer printout I think this was written towards the end of 1980 when I was pushing hard to get my computer science degree finished and Lynette and I knew we wouldn’t be together the following year … she had a silver ring in the shape of leaves and had also given me a silver dragon I wore round my neck … she never saw this poem but perhaps I should have shown it to her …

Silver

As the blood will run thin
tepid and clear
as the blood winds down
and disappears
within thin threads of bone
so the silver will draw to the silver

silver leaves encircle your finger
dragon drops the length
of my collarbone
as the silver will draw to the silver
as the white will draw to the black
as the cold tooth of the trinket moon
punctures the blood stiff sac
as the yolk spins
within the white
and day draws within
its shell of night

so this dragon will drop
upon your breast
silver leaves of your fingers
brush me as I rest