Becker Vs. Dylan Poem by Amberlee Carter

Becker was sitting on the steps
in the final moments of day-

catching fireflies with his fingers,
holding them against the sky
making wishes on their light-
false miracles and frail prayers.

writing with a fever,
I wrote the day's eulogy
with a passion for life-


and Becker said:
the only thing worse
than contemplating ones own mortality,
is manipulating the cause and events
of others-
we are gods of aftermath,
we cannot create life while it is meant to live,
but we create the illusion of what it used to be
after it's passed-
you see the difference?
God sits atop the sky
while we mere mortals rest beneath it- tonight

I think I'll burn a candle for every life,
for every moment I've called mine-
I am misfortunate,
there is only cause enough for one
for I've lived only this life


'but we have all of this'
I waved my hands
as if I were parting
the bruised colored sea-

Becker quoted Dylan:
' and death shall have no dominion'
not over thee.

A sense of space
has taken shape here-
and drawn within its newborn lungs,
a universe
where galaxies spit stars
and God shoots them out his nostrils-
and we mere gods of mirror and shadow
wish for good fortune
on their final decent-
we are deadly dreamers.