AVANT SOUL

What would happen --

...If we could measure sadness

And dole it out in spoons
And feed it to hyper, happy tots
Whose joy and energy were too hot
For traditional June gloom?

I'd suppose you'd say the world is gladly spinning,
And all the people dancing round
Could replace their dreamy smiles
With the insolence of frowns.

If my sadness were any deeper
I would dive naked into its gaping lake
And take the crimson ribbon of my rage
And with my soul to shake

Turn lilies from the winter's storm,
Wrench bloodied sorrow from my spirit,
And peel free this calloused shroud from this morn.

Take now this saccharine embarrassed heartache
And set loose astonished butterflies
At best, to wrestle no more with demons ravenous
For cause, to release them from congressional caucus,
Toss them from my breast to modular pits of hell
Where, I trust, they shall do as well
Absolved from my responsibility to effect their sullied minds --

--They shall dine with crocodiles & devour their victims gleefully
--They shall lead nations to war & sully rocky countries
--They shall rule as smug despots & righteous aristocracy.

But I, my love, shall retreat to my room
And from bitter tinctures of sadness bottled from my spoon,
Weave haunting melodies which go shimmering in this shrieking night,
To sparkle as divine, and pure, as all the wistful guardians of Heaven

Who watch, detached, as this spinning Globe
Spirals downward in its besotted flight.