Minor Tragedy

Hundreds went down to the ocean bed,

Hundreds fell from the sky,

The shades in the street thickened,

Blood stood in every eye.

Oh kiss me or I’ll die, she said,

Kiss me or I’ll die!

He took a shadow into the bed

Where she had drained him dry:

With words that buzzed like bullets

She pinned him to a lie.

Don’t kiss me or I’ll die, she said,

Don’t kiss me or I’ll die!

Thousands twined on the ocean bed,

Thousands burned in the sky:

Nursing a spent bullet

He let the world go by,

And I’ll kiss it till I die, he said,

Kiss it till I die!