Patti Masterman Poems

Please, ancient universe, just let me close my eyes
Sleep lingering in empty wineglass, close my eyes

Children of the street, singing in syllabled rhymes
...

What are pleasure and pain to us,
Held in the grip of time's hand, as we are?
Hostage to the intervention of circumstance,
Or privy to the secrets of youth or age;
...

There are thoughts I'd not allow to think, of you;
Though they carry you off in your sleep some night;
These words I shall not write down of you:
Asleep in my past, where you have no right.
...

Ah, the lips, and ah, what cheeks;
Methinks though, you are not too deep.
What sunbleached tresses frame your face,
Even though you're lacking taste;
...

Impermanence threatens-
It's thoughts in our head;
A certain disconsonance
Of feet on our bed.
...

I heard the corn applauding
The shy moon's beaming face,
And saw the stars marauding
Along the curve of space.
...

Earth is the bosom-buddy of our flesh,
She holds us close, to her living dress:
We come in bare, screaming at the light,
And leave the same way; but fearful of night.
...

Breathe me,
while the moon's shadow
moves across our faces;
while the winds challenge time.
...

Where do the dead go,
When we've left them alone?
Is a coffin what
They'd really call home;
...

Storm not hidden,
Face not stitched,
Presence unbidden
And heart that skips.
...