Animal Life

Born inside the gates of a family
Hardened by a Roman machinery
Cast among the building sites
The coiling wires, the shots collected
Called out in the wake of a lottery
Held inside the family gathering
Mirrored beams and dog-like stretch
A wandering association
Murmurs in the dark confessional
And rides along the road, ephemeral
As an animal life
Rusting in the shade of the batteries
Hanging from a rope in the gallery
Pacing down the balance beam
Of half-remembered holidays
No rush of light, no sign of belonging
No joy in building, love in the finishing
Chasing down an anodyne
And half-reflected radiance
To hide below the ancient barricade
In chambers like the rooms a swallow made
For an animal life
Charging down the maw of the ocean
I want to come close, I want to come closer
I held your name inside my mouth
Through all the days out wandering
But called up from the mouth of oblivion
Cast away like dogs from the shelter
I shed the dulling armor plates
That once collected radiance
And, surging at the blood’s perimeter
The half-remembered wild interior
Of an animal life