And then I had you in a purple thought— <br />It was just like the one they kept around the cemetery <br />To show off to the old widows and their bystanders: <br />It was a beautiful cemetery in the middle <br />Of everywhere— <br />Across from a flea market, a circus, and a military base: <br />They trained the men to march and bring to <br />You plastic flowers— <br />And the wished for you in the middle of the night <br />Pleasuring themselves, <br />While foxes who were not really there, leapt and pirouetted <br />Underneath their windows— <br />The waves, not far off, pretending to wait for the <br />Castanets of the heavens— <br />The lush pull of the occultism's séances—just across from <br />The corner deli where the Jewish women overate <br />And complained— <br />They complained so much they could hardly remember their <br />First boyfriends who weren't even Jewish— <br />And when the grandest of planes dropped almost a <br />Thousand feet—well then, oh well— <br />They pulled up the tadpoles just as quickly as the lampshades <br />To shadows—and grew them into tall gaunt princes <br />Who were always in love with unicorns but were never very <br />Good at any sort of baseball— <br />And I remember you standing outside in the rain watching <br />You little sister Phoebe go around on a carousel— <br />My best teacher said it was a symbol for the best kind of <br />Change— <br />But—oh well—you are not really here, anyways— <br />And I am afraid that I am just a character in a dime novel.<br /><br />Robert Rorabeck<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-a-purple-thought/
