One Hundred Axioms, Maxims, and Lies
1- 25
by Thomas Nance
He who binds to himself a
joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
--William Blake
#1
They'll only pay me
For what I hate.
I've learned that much.
Most days it's better
Not to get paid at all.
#2
When I smoked cigarettes,
They tasted good even if I coughed
Up phlegm and life.
Yet, I miss those mornings
Where the cool wind blew my smoke
Gently into the clear air
And I did nothing but think
I was doing all that should be done
In a day.
#3
Unless you are in the act of loving,
When the music plays - soft, sweet,
Melodious - sit, close your eyes
And do nothing to deny God's touch.
#4
If a man aims a gun at you,
Take heed and run.
If the same man wields a knife at you,
Take heed and run.
If the same man hold out a flower to you,
Take heed and run,
Or else his troubled heart
Might burden yours.
#5
On any night it's quiet, warm,
And safe enough
To look up at the stars
Until you have them named,
Do not be ashamed
That they pay no homage to you.
#6
Every time you love a woman
And she smiles when you leave
Another day is added to your life.
Every time you rape a woman
And she bleeds through her tears,
Your heart will grow smaller
And take your soul with it.
#7
On those days you get so drunk
The Persian rug won't lead you out the room,
Sit down and sleep a little while.
That's all life is anyway.
#8
If we should consider drifting
Apart, I shall think
Of billowing clouds casting shadows
Over the foothills before the sun sets
And the shadows disappear.
#9
When your children are old enough
To leave your home,
They still aren't old enough
To leave your arms.
Hold them tighter than the memory
Of your first love's perfume
Tantalizing you before the wind
Deadened that uninhibited joy.
#10
When it's spring, marvel and touch,
If possible, all the lovely skin
Browning before it withers
And wrinkles into dust.
# 11
At least once a day
Wrap yourself up
Until you are nothing
In the silence.
#12
Before the consciousness,
Before the climax,
Before the womb,
We slept with the first death
And were not afraid.
Why fear the second?
#13
If the prayers that once
Brought solace comfort you no more,
Write a poem to your lover
And read it each day
As benediction to living.
#14
Whatever you want
May not be yours.
So once those other eyes close,
Part those other lips
With a kiss
To keep what you do have
For the moment.
#15
There is no grander purpose
For a man in this world
Than to dance with a woman child
As she laughs to his gentle kiss
And rough cheek against her tiny face.
#16
Dance with your children
So they might learn the rhythms
Your mother and father danced
For you.
# 17
It takes such a short time
For the man with swollen knuckles
After bitter words
To forget those swollen breasts
After hungry cries.
#18
Men who kill women
Will smoke cigarettes while
The orphans dig graves.
#19
When thieves steal your purse
At play's end,
Do not let them steal
The play from you as well.
#20
Whether someone paints over my name
Today or tomorrow
Makes no difference
To the wall crumbling
Under the tyranny of time.
#21
Let me hold you tonight, Lover,
Before you take my pillow,
My sheets and my arms
Into a memory to cool
Like embers gently swirling
Smoke into the wind.
# 22
The dust returns to the patio
Where I swept
Just the day before.
#23
This is not the final curse.
This is not the last word
Spit into the unholy faces
And unblessed earth.
This is but another beginning,
Another oath before
The benediction of blood.
# 24
How can an actor
Locked in the arms
Of an actress
Be in anything but love?
So why then do we
Call him an actor?
# 25
My dogs have broken
Through my gate and
Run over puncture vines
Growing along the alley.
With tender paws
They'll limp back
Home where I'll
Pull the thorns
And find solace in
Seeing my dogs safe,
That's when we'll can teach
Each other about
Running away.