*Inspired by a painting of the same title by Georgia O’Keeffe

 

We were born undeserving

But more,

unforeseeing

This mad puppet-dance

To the tunes of the Pied Piper

 

And the iron in your blood

Pulled itself

to the city-

its magnetism

Of fireworks and glass and conversation

Until your heart began to beat in solidarity

With that ever-turning lever

That falls

Each time

With the guillotine

 

So your aching body is given no respite

As the tide pulls out

And will soon return

To demand your sacrifice.

 

Here the cables run high

And the steel-wires latch cold

Onto the grim granite towers-

Veins of iron

Run in Lady Liberty

 

Slave to the city

You became a vagabond

But your dim eyes still recognize

The still blue

Of that sky

Between the cement fingers