I.


rise, children!  blankets up in a salute of the inviting night sky! thumbs in mouths!
  now suck! suck harder! all eyes - stay open!  ignore the stinging of the drifting dust!
  squelch the pain!  all eyes stay open!  to watch the stars!  to watch the dark gaps in
between them!  all eyes stay open to shed tears!

rise children! out of bed!  flock to the fields!  bring the teddies!  bring the blankets!
burn them! tear them! no need for warmth here! all eyes - stay open!  all thoughts - close!

rise, children!   rise!


                II.


it is time to close the nuances between us. it is time to bridge the spaces.
come closer.  fall to me.
a mime.  a pocketwatch.  come closer.  and feel the sting of my nail cutting your skin,
taste the blood on my lips.  it is time to compress ourselves.  it is time to close the
nuances between us. to fit the similarities  exactly.  it is time to set alight our warmest
blankets.  it is time to shed ourselves of clothes. the night has come.

the night has come.


                III.


a mime. a pocketwatch.

a tiny hat.

see the feathers in the air.  see the wind fall.

there is no warmth.  you will feel the cold when you touch me.

a lesson.  down with sex.  burn the blankets.

all eyes stay open.

all spaces close.


                IV.


a steep hill. barely moonlit. nearly dawn now. thousands of children kneeling there.
thousands of little fires. the scent of ash is in the air, even down here. here and there
a gnarled tree is silhouetted. here and there the ground sparkles, where people have
dropped change.  i put my hands to the glass and wait for the sun to dispel this illusion.


                V.


rise, children.  watch.  burn.  sleep.  your parents miss you, your naked beds want you
back.  rise, children.  come and go.  thumbs in mouths.  filling the gaps.  ignoring the
nuances. back to bed.  dreams and candy. morning light.  fragile curtains slip shut.
you can blink now, you can sigh.  and wash away the day with a child's wishes.  nostalgia.
  and quiet night skies.

we fit now. into each other, like the pieces of a puzzle. another thing learned.
every gap must have a bridge to span it.












~ =-.-> gREY mOUSER <-.-= ~