Work Text:
MOLTEN GOLD
For the Luxembourg, London
Tall, spindly, and curving in supple grace
Languid bubbles reaching, dancing up towards the surface, bursting
Into giggles. Sighing affection in
round beads of amber dew, condensing on glass.
Shivering to the touch, and leaving damp kisses against fingertips
Like a mistimed goodbye.
A death, years ago, had cast its shadow
At this round-table dinner on a birthday night:
Her fingerprint left behind on ivory tablecloth, in the shape of a twig
Rosemary for remembrance
Pansy for thought
Violets for misshapen love gone to past
(for mistakes you bought and paid for)
And irises for the first splatter of rain to fall upon this dirt of loss
Bring light to the shadowed ballroom.
Memory, the ghost of a taste on your tongue
Illuminating the rim of the champagne glass
Like a halo.