Tangled Hair/Poisonous Weeds
Poisonous Weeds
What does my fearful soul
Awakening in love see?
Oh, is there no prison
To hold captive my eyes?
Of the numberless steps
Up to my heart,
He climbed perhaps
Only two or three.
Trusting there is a plateau
On the summit,
I climb your heart
Which is said to be very steep.
“Beware! Danger ahead!”
My old self whispers from behind me,
The while my very young self urges,
“On!”
Since I was born,
Though I have seen the sun rise
Ten thousand times,
I am still unable
To trust my dear self.
As if to say
The pleasures of this world
Are forever in flux,
The pink of my silk garment
Fades and loses its sheen.
The world of by-gone days
Is deeper than the sea.
I am unable to search out
Either the pearls or the coral.
The frost that might have fallen
On the bridge or on the city street
Fell instead on my heart.
My memories resentful of love
Are as dear to me
As my caressing touch
Of an ebony chest.
From day to day I live along
Punctuating my spotlessly white soul
With dots of crimson and of gold.
Like my heart, awaiting you,
The flowers in my bouquet will wither
Before the night has passed.
I find myself becoming
A miserable coward.
Might I not as well
Be your wife?