The one who should write my elegy is dead
When we made that bet he said most likely I’d be the loser writing his elegy instead
Nothing is as beautiful as nothing he once said so hip just chain-smoking Camels or
Riding his shaky Triumph up Van Ness & the one who should write my elegy is dead
I guess I always knew I’d have to write my own elegy for him instead
Rimbaud on a tractor Anna says or Jagger pirouetting through the ranch’s drying shed
The one who should write my elegy is dead so I won’t rehearse again those
Hungers that we fed or expose both the cruelties & those we shared
I’ll simply try again to finish writing this last elegy instead of looking back & tonight
My daughter Vivienne’s off with friends & Anna’s reading of all things Winter Stars in bed
& the one who should write my elegy is dead & I’m the one the loser left here just as
He said I’d be left here writing his elegy instead