So you've seen the first poem, the Alpha we could say. Here's the Omega, the final poem in the book. It is one of the newest in the collection and one I'm very fond of. It was originally published on another blog here:
http://eightelevenpointfiftyfour.blogspot.com/2010_07_18_archive.html
Enjoy!
Reader,
Lean a little closer, I want
to give you something
soft: a blanket, a wish, a gold
heart-shaped locket.
Few of us are lucky
in love or money, so
think of this as a charm,
a spell cast or a trinket
for your neck or wrist.
You’ve met some
whose bank accounts are bursting,
whose fridge is never
less than full. And, it seems, they
always have a circle of friends
with gleaming glasses raised.
And good for them.
But, more than likely, here’s the secret,
you're like me and I’m like you and
we’re all brokenhearted. Even
the lucky ones. We drink and avoid
the eyes reflected in the glass, laugh
when our hands go unshaken and
make, for the fifth year in a row,
the very same resolutions or
we simply turn toward
the more comfortable dark.
It’s hard to look at gold and see
yourself, but it’s soft and warm and
true, like a blanket and love, and
even if this is as close as we
ever come to meeting,
please take this wish, see it
smile as it shakes your hand. Go on,
open the curtains to the sun and
your delicious brokenheartedness.
Raise your good human face.
