Can You See?

I’m at the feet of the national anthem 

Her eyes are wet and black 

under her twitching eyelids 

So there must be something wrong with her - 

Bugs live in her skin and give her bacne

Her mirrors still have a gleaming film

Of protective sticky plastic  

She’s mourning something -   

I want to guess, but I don’t, 

because I am scared of being right 

And because it’s obvious; 

The stars are halfway up already

By the dawn’s early light 

I trudge home to her. 

The road is slick 

Kaleidoscopic with petroleum

My baby is waiting at the mailbox 

Dimly seen through the mists 

There she stands, and I am sure

That through the perilous fight 

We will live, alone, together, 

Here where glory shines on the stream 

On free land which we know well

Call it Fort McHenry. 

When I approach, she’s not -

She’s not right. 

Frantic, stilted, she embraces me, knowing

Eyes are on us from the ramparts 

The camera’s red glare

O’er the home of the brave

Twilight hails 

I carry her, bridal style, home, 

Though she asks me to leave, she knows I won’t.

Bugs abound across our house in dread silence

And she refuses to speak -  

Half concealed, half disclosed. 

Look! We will live here together until it rots, 

Amongst shadows and half-shapes. 

With your eyes all black like that,

Oh, say,

Can you see?