Crystal Ball


A solitary stare from her all too easy chair
(upholstered with avocado apathy)
rests upon the whitewashed wall
the silver screen of lamentable lifetime
and she, an audience of one.

"Rewind" she said
"Now pause!"

"Weren't those the days?"
she spoke aloud to fate
Her voice, the sound of locusts
as they conquer and devour.

"What a swimmer I was... within the water of man.
Oh! What an ocean,
its dulcet horizon full of hopes
swells of uncertainty
whitecapped with insecurity."

"'Dive In!' you told me
'Master it's crests! Battle it's currents!
Do not rely on me!'"

She laughs a hollow laugh
----the locusts having gone now,
touches her fingers to hollow cheek,
the countenance of Garbo
(less the cigarette and the prime)
"Why did you let me drown?"

I saw in you a woman
disheartened, bitter crone
who lacked the heart of the Mistress Godiva
and bore the weight
of Joan.

©1999 (Isosceles Volume 6, #2 )