hello to the dead years
hello to the girls in yellow hats, kissing the library windows
and pretending
they are kissing husbands. hello to the young dead men
in trenches, pulsing with no heat,
maggots curling around
skullcaps and helmets and
dead dreams. hello to the girls standing at the train
platform, waiting for him to come back,
waiting to make the library kisses
real. hello to champagne at midnight,
to manhood as a banner,
as a war-cry, as midnight sex
with the glorious undead youth.
