michael

the heat was blistering
and michael was in bloom
in the quickening midnight
black petals in a purple room

like an egyptian
eyes dark as coal
and a soul like gold
given freely what others stole

just like gravity
he possesses me
and i hold him like he's held
by everybody else

just like a lover
rolling over
still knowing that no-one
has broken the spell
oh, michael

incense and chalices
arrowhead amulets
go first, and then after
come silence and cigarettes

whenever
it ended
alone in the afterwards
he's fleeing
with nothing
in the chalice

just for vanity
and his sanity
he tells them the night
will be all that they have of him

but it's a mystery
why this misery
won't be relieved with a kiss to the skin
oh, michael

© 1993 paula pryce