Tag Archives: Relationships

eidolon (he)

this is the forgotten road
a funnel for the words we could never say
but should have
where his pain keeps step with the ghost of me
to this very day

of all the memories that could have been taken
what is the use of this last one
the one that was left behind
took on a life of its own
and with it has taken his own

i have wept in secret
through weather properly clement or not
and long after my heart had stopped
when i tried no longer to claw through earth
to claim again my former resplendence

the bones of me in this burial mound
the ghost of me in his room again
his bereavement heartfelt vain
one could pain to refill with hope
but his is a barrowman’s chore
and the husk that lingers
mere baggage for the day

and as much as the life not owned
was the purpose not sown
i still pine for that which was human
aimless and pointless tho’ we were
our lungs in chorus were a blessing

his pain keeps step with the ghost of me
silent words for a silent road
and when we think nobody is looking
leaning into myth to light our way
but is it okay that we inevitably fall

we have wept in secret
through weather properly clement or not
and long after his heart has stopped
when he tries no longer to claw through earth
will we meet again in former resplendence

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

eidolon (she)

paint the room
herr weltschmerz has come to stay
and nothing will ever be the same again

tho’ the weather’s properly clement
tho’ he’s never cried the blues before
what’s left that can be properly said
of a man who’d tried to claw back the earth
to kiss his truelove’s final resplendence

the ghost of she keeps count with him
there to haunt his bereavement vain
what can he be but indentured to sorrow
a pain as wide as the days unstemmed

he sorely regrets he’d ever been human
mouths silent words oft kept for silent roads
and for fear he’ll decant so many more along the way
stands deathly instead as a stone unyielding
locked inside with his grief… and fading

herr weltschmerz has come to stay
veins shockingly open to the unspooled light of day
paint the room

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

nadir

there was no reason to stay
there was no reason to leave
so they hid behind their faces
and nothing happened

they didn’t fall in love
they didn’t sing their own songs
they didn’t even get a pity fuck

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021

intimacy porn

i ring their bell ends
it’s what i was made for
nothing in my head but head
making a dull sound
making the right sound

since when did we become so familiar?

i’m just an udder with dicks
expressing the milk of human kindness
but to them it’s only wankery
making a dull sound
making the wrong sound

since when did i earn such contempt?

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

crosscurrent of spring

i’m sorry i shouted at you
i had no right (you told me darkly)
i sailed my disgrace through the reef of shame
but hadn’t we kissed at the blushing jetty?
was that just another tidal skeeting?

another day with nothing inside
yet hope still dabbed behind each ear
i’ve seen mermaids depart for other shores before
speaking wakes of dismantled devotion
i hope we prove to be the exception

once more in our summer of discontent
again we list sadly into fall apart
to become a sail’s wintry afterthought
but didn’t our lungs evolve for screaming
for when choppy waters beset us?

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021