Shreds: “Ultimatum”

My temple throbs against the door,
While time, this eve, drags on, much slower,
And in my pocket some paint I bore,
With a brush, and thoughts much lower.

Let us blend into the night, I pray,
I care not for your morrow’s climbs,
But for laughter, and to piss away
With vagrants who threaten a fight.

It’s been years since you fled your bed,
And many more since you smoked a joint,
For again more you’ve held me mute, at a point,
Begging “For once, be an adult, instead!”

But what’s the change if I steal you away
For one night only, as you dive again,
Into closets, torn ‘twixt gloves and veils,
Missing spring as it passes by your day.

I spoke to you of life’s true decades,
With bandanas on brows, insults to yell,
At scums like us, yet donned in uniforms well,
You taught me of poets’ happier cascades,

Though perhaps you knew none deep within,
Yet blushing, standing tall, immersed in tales
Of things you no longer speak, or spin,
Hours we spent, now lost like whispers’ trails.

Let us merge with the naught for just two hours,
Then I’ll leave you to return to your cherry tree,
Smoothed by your arm and lifeless routine,
Passed from your father’s empty powers.

Perhaps, nay, indeed, I knew it from the start,
That beyond me, even your mind you’ve lost,
I who loved you beyond any other part,
After ten long years, I fear, I’ve reached the cost.