Wine glasses

Dum da dum
Dum da dum

I'm listening for heart beats in shadows
That jump out at me like
the violets your numb hands ripped out from the earth.
I'm reaching for a hint of my reflection in you,
Perfection in you,
That won't ever be found.

I'm waiting for you somewhere
Lying under pianos
And drinking in the cold harsh music
Ringing out from the vibrations
You're still trying to rub the taste
of that biting whiskey your father left you
off the roof of your mouth.
It was the only kind you could get your hands on,
so we learned to trace new picture frames
on the empty walls we drew
with dust covered fingertips

I always knew you were something divine
Because you smelled like my grandmother's perfume
And looked like Aphrodite had leaned down
and set a kiss upon your cheek
the day of your birth
Your hands were so delicate,
as though da Vinci himself
drew his paint brush from the canvas
and outlined your long pointed fingers
with untainted pigments

I still feel those fingers on my face
Weaving knots within my pores
And tugging at them
until you have me,
Curled on the ground
Surrendering

And then one night
I swear St Teresa lifted my chin
And with her heart in one hand
And arrow in the other
She said
Never surrender unless it is unto
the keeper of your soul,
your sleep of sleeps,
or into the arms of the love of your life
and she delicately set her lips upon my forehead
with kisses that felt like ice

But like the fireflies we spent an infinite time trying to capture,
And fathers who made hollow promises,
she was gone

dum da dum
dum da dum

I'm still playing out songs on the wine glasses
We learned to forget with

Dum da dum