mask and a flame – lee frankel-goldwater

I don’t know who I am,
I don’t know who you are,
I don’t know what we’re doing
… or why,
“So leave!” you say,
“If you’d rather not stay … ”
“But how?” I reply, (I do not know)
“I do not know from where I’ve come …
How can I know where to go?”
“It matters not to me.” (It matters not to me)
You say, a silence forms among the trees.

Inside my pocket lies a ring,
On top a scrap, beneath a crumb
I wear the ring, I open the scrap,
I nibble the sugary crumb.
It says, “only for you, only for you,
In haste to the 13th bower!”
Late, so late, I rushed, I came
I found on the bower a mirror
Lying beside a mask and flame
Covered in a dusting of snow
Mask and a flame, they lie beside
Covered in a dusting of snow
I pick them up, I know! I know!
“My penance is paid, I’m through!”

From then on, I went on, went on
wherever I wanted to.

Lee FG is a poet, PhD student and traveler who throws fits of freestyle and prose like it matters. Travel writing is a favorite, calling on momentary evocations, the impressions of love and place, our differences, our quirky similarities. Prefers the mountains and tress, oceans and breeze to the urban hostilities. Find him around Boulder writing on the walls and always willing a share a tea and a smile.

Photo: Nathan Anderson