I will take calcium from your teeth Until they are milk and opal strange Too soft to eat me with An accusation borne with a bird-bark laugh My birdsong replies as raw as warnings Sometimes I feel the mask beneath the skin Descended from the stranger world An owlet that you carefully kissed If I all reasonless wept Hands against my neck and chin As if they were his unfurled wings Here now, away from all such childhood familiarity Your hands have the eyes of wear Pulling roots and weeds from raucous beds Of judas penny and rhododendrons How with a wringing love In this embrace they watch Measuring pale skin with callouses I do not remember lullabies Only a lost and dreamful sleep Your morning voice still echoing Insistent as a sunrise
