KEI-BROWN

1

Once you were cold

all you could talk about is how men misinterpret your looks

how they falsely negotiate your gap-tooth smile

how they imagine you care for them

enough to break other appointments

forgetting that your father

-he of the allocating class

buys you one white car after another

keeps his eye on your eye

sends you sweets and bread

while they (the men who watch you dance)

whisper during ballads of the love they bear

then he of narrow widening eyes

in yellow-red joined your whirl

a room of happy-go-lucky bilinguals

corporate or academic 

all keen to fight the Struggle

he came near and made you warm

but you kept your distance 

and lied though his hands seemed hot

enough to burn your knots            

he declared:

I’ll wait for you

don’t care how long it takes

don’t care how long the line                

no matter how wide the doubt

that keeps me from your arms

I’ll wait for you

so you pressed him close

the melody that of wine

and agreed you were for the oppressed

you swore to fight with him

at the burning tire and the gate

you pressed him close

till your heart seemed clear of cloudy vapour

2

The first time he waited for you while rain

swept past the curtain

drove down painting the window

with sharp empty longing

the second time he waited for you

he opened the door to let the drops in:

where in the city were you resting your head?

afterwards on the phone you laughed about

your week-end jol at the coast

the third time he waited for you

at the window while lightning flashed

and thunder drowned out his bitter question:

pitch up at your flat?

surprise you by knowing the number?

should I pull you by the hand before you float off

on your sky-ringing voice?

after the fourth time

he went to your door with keys in his hand

and nothing moved 

his heart was level with it’s light

nothing moved except the tips

of your fluttering kei-brown breasts