Little Darling, Little Darling

Stand on your tiptoes 

Little darling

Crane your neck

Raise your hands over your head

     palms to the sky and

Wail at the moon until all the ash escapes

from your lungs

You are a spectacle-wearer

Little darling

Your world is tinted rose

Open your mouth wide and laugh

     so loud and so terrible and

Stare at the tip of your nose
through the cracks in your glasses

Mark off your calendar

Little darling

The days you find yourself hollow

And revel in the covered weeks

     Press the tip of the marker

Into the day you felt most happy

until it can never be used again

Shake out your rain-boots

Little darling

Go out onto the streets and

Stand in the rain until you feel clean

     Until the gutters are flooded

And you can no longer feel the dirt

from his hands on your body

Little darling, little darling

Flowers grow in your belly

     And every time you cry 

     they dry up

Swallowing bumblebees to pollinate 

Flowers that he has already killed

     is not a sacrifice of love

It's a way to get yourself stung

He is not sunshine

     Little darling

Do not let him kill your flowers