After Reading Rilke Poem by r james sterzinger

I.

I shall walk the corners
Of reckless parting. I shall
Dance on the memories of light
I shall stalk the hem of the black
Widow's skirt and know
the partings of her heart.

I shall pry open the edges
of envelopes filled with sadness
open waves and oceans of bad news
And report.

I shall kiss the mouth of the Graveyard
Huntress. I shall mouth symphonies
of grief to the beauty of sunlit days.

I shall embrace tears as petals
I shall cast pearls before swine
With full vigor.

I shall read books that predict
My demise; I will embrace
The written word as a long lost lover.

I shall stare in silence and listen
To the morning bird's first echoes
His first mournful song. I shall
Tear at his crying, for his lost
Ones from the night.

II.

I shall sing dirges at sunlight
Skip and dance
Wild at the fall of night.

I will joyfully enter my eternal grave
I shall buy a plot for my rest
Behind gates. On consecrated ground
Before I am gone, this I will do.

I will choose my madness, choose
My chaos, kissing both of them
On the brow. They give me meaning.
They teach me my craft.

I will taunt dogs at night
I will love women who cannot
Love me back. I will cry over them.

I will curse the writings of demons
Yet I will get to know all of mine
One by one by one.

III.

I will produce incantations
Musings, songs, poems
That will never see the light of day

I will lose my heart and if need be
My soul to one I can only love from afar.

Then I will have truly lived with no remorse
I will truly have lived a life
One that only madmen and angels can dream of.

I will be written in the Lamb's Book of Life
Because He will understand how I wish Him
Even more than all of this
Because He is the one who has made me
Who understands my craft. I have read the Psalms,

IV.

I shall call this a life!
This is what I hope for.