Stanzas: Monthly Chapbooks November 2014: Remembrance | Page 18

Willow Will, Willow Won’t
Shane Vaughan
I met Mnemosyne
By my old willow tree
Where I caught thoughts like Glowflies
And bottled them free.
She said, ‘What is it you seek
When you dampen those fires?
Is the glow too bright
As the light perspires?’
As I lay in her arms
With her hair in my face
I caught truth on a breathwind
And sighed in disgrace,
‘I cannot let go.
I cannot look away
I cannot let go
I cannot, not today.
Not today and not ever
And never again
Not today and not ever
From beginning to end.’
She cupped my face lightly
Kissed me between
My quivering lip
And my scars unseen
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