To Survive For Very Long Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Purple elbows of a sparrow
And ashes of hurricanes over the sleepy canals
Of housewives:
You come home while I’ve been masturbating and
Lighting off fireworks,
As Elvis sings-
And all of this is only the joy I gave to myself
Underneath the school bus-
But even the windows cannot destroy your
Perfect body,
As the virgins arise from Mexico-
Can you see them now, with roses in their vases-
They are filled with the joy of their family:
Their little children coming home
With bleeding hinges,
But not one of them ever lamenting that they
Should have to survive for very long.