An Argument Between Lovers

When someone else
can say something better
best let them.  Those that eat
are no less than those who
spit it out.

In a corner of an empty
room a man listens, his ear
recognizes the beauty of silence,
the lips of a woman moving
soundless or the slow song

of shadows and hearts.

And darkness, its throat-less promises:
I will not deceive you. I will not
abandon you.  The man in his corner
smiles... his tongue cut out.

Less clearly, from a distance came
the small white ears of light
that hear everything-


a child crying, an argument
between lovers, a woman falling down,
a man setting his body on fire.