Magpie blind and crippled
benighted and inside out
visceral wings wheel over lake and bridge
a trail of black soaring blood anoints her passage
and the smell of death marks her course
can I love thee?
can I touch the black of thy being?
Inside warm places where we cry and tremble?
I thirst
My leg fails and heart beats slow the tempo of defeat
I drink the waters of the world and still I thirst cold and raw
Skinned and hung tearing flesh
jagged festering hooks through sinew and breast
and I hang exposed
I thirst
Magpie flying, do you see me?
Drip black blood and quench the thirst
Drop a feather and end strife
and the war drums
thump angry in chest and loin
take my head as a trophy
my manhood as a badge
Magpie blind and crippled
benighted inside and out
disresent the rot of flesh
and dark of eye
I thirst
let me drink a drop from your mouth
and sleep.