the infidel

i awoke to find myself.

but if not for ownership papers
i might not have guessed my own face

for I had traveled so far past
my starting mark
i scarcely recognized the thing
the whole of me…the ragged remnant…
clinging to the selvage

but…

there it was. that tiny scar
that token of my tender years
my lover and my nemesis
who spoke to me and stoked my heart
and said… i know it’s you

of course you do, you put me here
you and all your cronies
and now you’re back for more i see
go away and leave me be
and let me sleep some more

but..

the light had cut an urgent swath
across my bed and pillow
each crag and crevice, cleft and fissure
joined chorus in a fitful rebuke
to force me from my respite

and when I scrubbed the glass
(for my eyes conspired too…)
i stared in addled silence at the
lodger of my heart
the infidel and heretic who took up years ago

i expected mutiny
not stoic acquiescence
(on his part more than mine)
no longer could I see the glass
it blurred so in the mist

still…the sound was deafening
as it fell upon the wood
like passing guards at arlington
he set the keys upon the desk
and left without a word