Lorne Shirinian: Willow Weep for Me

Willow weep for me

Bend your branches down along the ground

And cover me

(A popular song composed in 1932 by Ann Ronell, 

recorded by Billie Holiday in Los Angeles 

on September 3, 1954.)

time enough still

I told myself

a poem a story a book a film

a life accomplished

yet more to do

but time tricked me

woke one day bent low

along the ground

the future tense sucked out

ready for the table

willow, there were times

when the words dropped like honey

on the page 

I couldn’t stem the flow

and I was chided by some to linger longer

you’re publishing too much

how much is too much for a desperate writer

tell me, willow,

I can’t live according to their inadequacies

I have difficulties enough with my own

soon enough, willow,

I will gather all my pages

and let your canopy cover me 

a final caress, a murmur to the night

let the shadows fall

I will take them all with me