© 2006 Josef Lesser

fragments of a letter washed ashore

                                                                       24/12/ ----

my dearest my love are you wearing a watch tell me the time are you

wearing a hat are you hot are you cold remember the heat on our -----

---- moon we swam in waterfalls and drank cold champagne ----------

silver the waiter sang and strummed guitar like ---------------------

tell me the time are you wearing a watch my time left can be counted

on the fingers of your right hand are you cold in my dream a man the

colour of history as old as eyes whispered have faith in the ocean--------

your final words to the tides you loved the waves when-----------------

are you wearing a hat reading my letter tell me the time of day tell me

a story remember the tale of the child with no name who could -------

develop into a complete person but you my dear ----------------

------------------ yes so many ways tell me a story how our souls met

first and then introduced us to each other we ----------------------------

then waltzed to the tune of the moon are you wearing a -------------

my time left can be counted -------------------------------- cold ----

was the colour of history as old as eyes my final words will ------------

the tides the waves you love the -----------------------------------

and he whispered you will find this letter because our souls met first

----mates always always are you wearing a hat maybe the --------------

you bought from the market in the valley when we lost our way -------

remember the gypsy reading my palm she saw the ocean ----------------

looked melancholic ---------------------------------------------------------

and only yesterday like fast foreward video all our days --------------

---------------- tried to press play but it stuck and flashed and-----------

tell me the story one last time how our souls met first then ------------

to each other we kissed under the stars ------------------------------

moon tell me the time any number my mind hears only tick tock ti-- ----

minutes days seconds heartbeats grains of time on ----------------

where are you is it hot is it cold are you --------------------

my feet are cold my ice feel lips my lips are yours my --------------

forever ever ever tell me a story tell me a --------------------------------

tides waves as old as eyes ---------------------------

are you wearing -----------------------------------------------

my soul will know yours when next we meet in ------

remember the gypsy glimpsed the ocean a bottle a talisman ----------

words locked in glass my --------------------------------------

are you wearing a watch we drank cold champagne flutes ----------------

tell me a story tell me a story my ice are feet my lips ------------

forever my dearest countdown is over are you cold --------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------

and i think of the connection...and

three stools of dog shit from the gravel drive

and a poem like one of those pie-eyed cobras

wakes from the small stones hissing first words;

and i think of my father

and i think of the connection

and i imagine what Freud would discover

and i imagine what the re-birther would mutter

and the up-turned magician of tarot

and the gypsy with one gold eye

teasing her fortune from innocent palms

and i think of the doorman

at the entrance beyond the five senses,

yes i'm scooping dog shit and thinking maybe

some connections, like holding a live wire

waist deep in the family pool, are better left un-plugged.

All work is property of Josef Lesser.

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