Shreds: “What We Are Not”

Swallow this gleam,
Forget the world,
We shall die in the noise
In the background unfurled,
Drinking bottles,
Forgetting the blood,
Shouting to stars
With voices as flood;

I survive with great strain
Attempting to hate thee
And life tires in vain
If forgetting should free me;
I waste me nights
On a thousand benches
With papers and dreams,
Beer and mint quenches;

I rewrite thy name
On the old blackened wall
Of a shop where thou buyest
Thy garments of gold
And I am upheld
By what we are not
And what we shan’t be
Though thou know I love thee.