Piebald Deer

Poems

Forty-Two Forty-two has friends and a young daughter.

Open up her life and you will find,

Resting at the unprotected center,

The quiet self-assurance of her mind,

Yielding nothing as the years unwind.

There is no future that can be designed.

What course the will may set, the wind will alter.

One is oneself one's fortune, cruel or kind.

I wish you could have custody of me,

I wish you could have custody of me,

Complete control, with neither choice nor question,

One parent sovereign, in sole possession,

One hope, one faith, one love, one loyalty.

I long for such unstrained simplicity,

Free of calculation and concession,

The fear I might convey the wrong impression,

The willingness that saps my will-to-be.

I recognize that both of you have rights,

But I'm the child, and mine are more than yours

Since I am innocent of your dispute.

I need a home to house my ruthless nights,

A place so mine my dreams can find the doors,

One word, one will, sustained and absolute.