couldn't be magic

you were someone i so desperately wanted to know
that i meant my keen eyes to fall on for more than one sleight of hand
but you can't know your consequence or cause
can't know that the man who preceded you
took every drop of patience i contained
and poured it out
until it seemed as if i were weeping it
and that was the only virtue i could express

i could only shake off your disappearance with a shrug
could not be crushed under another of Sisyphus' stones-
    patience turned to stone

you might have sawed it into quarters
pulled one from my ear to show
you understood that all i could hear
was my virtue rolling back to me

Aaron

into dreams you go, my sweet
and it's been a time-long death
of words as well as wisdom

my heart can't retract what it spoke
as the muscle of its tongue subsides
and catches in the throat
it's been tough to swallow, this demise